How Did the COVID-19 Lockdown Affect Children and Adolescent's Well-Being: Spanish Parents, Children, and Adolescents Respond

Frontiers in Public Health

Carmen Muñoz-Almagro²  Elisenda Bonet-Carne⁴  Esther Via⁵  Juan José García-García⁶  Quique Bassat⁷  Jon Garrido-Aguirre⁸  Rosauro Varo⁹  Iolanda Jordan^1,10  Sara Arias^1,11  Pere Millat-Martínez^1,11  Bàrbara Baro^1,11  Núria Balanza^1,11  Sara Ajanovic^1,11  Alexandre Perera-Lluna^1,12  Begonya Nafria^1,13  Aina Crosas-Soler^1,13  Jordi Fonollosa^1,14 

[1] 0Department of Medicine, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain;1Molecular Microbiology Department, Hospital Sant Joan de Deu, Esplugues, Barcelona, Spain;2BCNatal Fetal Medicine Research Center (Hospital Clínic and Hospital Sant Joan de Déu), University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain;3Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, Barcelona, Spain;4Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology Department, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, Barcelona, Spain;5Pediatrics Department, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain;6ICREA, Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies, Barcelona, Spain;B2SLab, Departament d'Enginyeria de Sistemes, Automàtica i Informàtica Industrial, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain;Centro de Investigação em Saúde de Manhiça, Maputo, Mozambique;Consorcio de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Epidemiología y Salud Pública, Madrid, Spain;ISGlobal, Hospital Clínic—Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain;Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu, Barcelona, Spain;Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain;Networking Biomedical Research Centre in the Subject Area of Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN), Madrid, Spain;Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain;Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, BarcelonaTech, Barcelona, Spain;

关键词: COVID-19;    lockdown;    children;    adolescent;    mental health;    well-being;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpubh.2021.746052

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdown strategies have been widely used to contain SARS-CoV-2 virus spread. Children and adolescents are especially vulnerable to suffering psychological effects as result of such measures. In Spain, children were enforced to a strict home lockdown for 42 days during the first wave. Here, we studied the effects of lockdown in children and adolescents through an online questionnaire.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Spain using an open online survey from July (after the lockdown resulting from the first pandemic wave) to November 2020 (second wave). We included families with children under 16 years-old living in Spain. Parents answered a survey regarding the lockdown effects on their children and were instructed to invite their children from 7 to 16 years-old (mandatory scholar age in Spain) to respond a specific set of questions. Answers were collected through an application programming interface system, and data analysis was performed using R.Results: We included 1,957 families who completed the questionnaires, covering a total of 3,347 children. The specific children's questionnaire was completed by 167 kids (7–11 years-old), and 100 adolescents (12–16 years-old). Children, in general, showed high resilience and capability to adapt to new situations. Sleeping problems were reported in more than half of the children (54%) and adolescents (59%), and these were strongly associated with less time doing sports and spending more than 5 h per day using electronic devices. Parents perceived their children to gain weight (41%), be more irritable and anxious (63%) and sadder (46%). Parents and children differed significantly when evaluating children's sleeping disturbances.Conclusions: Enforced lockdown measures and isolation can have a negative impact on children and adolescent's mental health and well-being. In future waves of the current pandemic, or in the light of potential epidemics of new emerging infections, lockdown measures targeting children, and adolescents should be reconsidered taking into account their infectiousness potential and their age-specific needs, especially to facilitate physical activity and to limit time spent on electronic devices.

【 授权许可】

Unknown