Impact of COVID-19 Restrictions on the Social-Emotional Wellbeing of Preschool Children and Their Families
In the spring of 2020, as a result of the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, many children dropped out of daycare and early education in Finland, and parents had to balance work and childcare for months. The wellbeing of families during the lockdown has been studied to some extent, but few st...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-08-01
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| Series: | Education Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/11/8/435 |
| _version_ | 1797524112148529152 |
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| author | Tanja Linnavalli Mirjam Kalland |
| author_facet | Tanja Linnavalli Mirjam Kalland |
| author_sort | Tanja Linnavalli |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In the spring of 2020, as a result of the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, many children dropped out of daycare and early education in Finland, and parents had to balance work and childcare for months. The wellbeing of families during the lockdown has been studied to some extent, but few studies have focused on children under school age. In May 2020, we sent a survey to the 82 families originally recruited in our study on supporting social-emotional development in early childhood education units, which had been interrupted by the pandemic. Twenty families responded to questionnaires about the impacts of the lockdown on the wellbeing of the children and their parents. Parents reported a decline in children’s prosocial behavior compared to the time before the pandemic and assessed that the children who stayed at home were lonelier than children who remained in daycare. Otherwise, being at home or in care was not associated with children’s physical or mental wellbeing. Parents had experienced increased mental strain and increased problems in marital relationships and the disruption of children’s participation in daycare was associated with deterioration in the parent–child relationship. Due to the small sample size, these results should be interpreted with caution. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T08:52:42Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-79f6b0f0e8f34b2dae48523bb3460550 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2227-7102 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T08:52:42Z |
| publishDate | 2021-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Education Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-79f6b0f0e8f34b2dae48523bb34605502023-11-22T07:23:33ZengMDPI AGEducation Sciences2227-71022021-08-0111843510.3390/educsci11080435Impact of COVID-19 Restrictions on the Social-Emotional Wellbeing of Preschool Children and Their FamiliesTanja Linnavalli0Mirjam Kalland1Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, FinlandFaculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, FinlandIn the spring of 2020, as a result of the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, many children dropped out of daycare and early education in Finland, and parents had to balance work and childcare for months. The wellbeing of families during the lockdown has been studied to some extent, but few studies have focused on children under school age. In May 2020, we sent a survey to the 82 families originally recruited in our study on supporting social-emotional development in early childhood education units, which had been interrupted by the pandemic. Twenty families responded to questionnaires about the impacts of the lockdown on the wellbeing of the children and their parents. Parents reported a decline in children’s prosocial behavior compared to the time before the pandemic and assessed that the children who stayed at home were lonelier than children who remained in daycare. Otherwise, being at home or in care was not associated with children’s physical or mental wellbeing. Parents had experienced increased mental strain and increased problems in marital relationships and the disruption of children’s participation in daycare was associated with deterioration in the parent–child relationship. Due to the small sample size, these results should be interpreted with caution.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/11/8/435COVID-19early childhood educationsocial-emotional wellbeingfamilies |
| spellingShingle | Tanja Linnavalli Mirjam Kalland Impact of COVID-19 Restrictions on the Social-Emotional Wellbeing of Preschool Children and Their Families Education Sciences COVID-19 early childhood education social-emotional wellbeing families |
| title | Impact of COVID-19 Restrictions on the Social-Emotional Wellbeing of Preschool Children and Their Families |
| title_full | Impact of COVID-19 Restrictions on the Social-Emotional Wellbeing of Preschool Children and Their Families |
| title_fullStr | Impact of COVID-19 Restrictions on the Social-Emotional Wellbeing of Preschool Children and Their Families |
| title_full_unstemmed | Impact of COVID-19 Restrictions on the Social-Emotional Wellbeing of Preschool Children and Their Families |
| title_short | Impact of COVID-19 Restrictions on the Social-Emotional Wellbeing of Preschool Children and Their Families |
| title_sort | impact of covid 19 restrictions on the social emotional wellbeing of preschool children and their families |
| topic | COVID-19 early childhood education social-emotional wellbeing families |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/11/8/435 |
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