Stressful Life Events in Children Aged 3 to 15 Years During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Latent Class Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Although several studies have reported an increase in psychological problems during the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of stressful life events on Spanish children and adolescents using a person-oriented statistical approach and the relationships between the profiles and emotional and behavioral symptoms have not yet been examined. The present study aims to identify profiles of Spanish children and adolescents, considering life-threatening stressful events during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHOD: Participants were 252 parents of children aged 3 to 15 years old who completed an online structured questionnaire that collected information about stressful life events related to the pandemic and its impact on their children's welfare. RESULTS: Through Latent Class Analysis (LCA), four profiles of children and adolescents were found according to the stressful events experienced: "COVID infection, social confinement", "economic loss", "reduced social contact" and "parental stress", with no significant age or gender differences. Reduction in social contact was the most prevalent stressor. Comparisons of psychological symptoms across latent classes were analyzed. CONCLUSIONS: The findings increase our understanding of how stressful life events during the COVID-19 situation impacted young people's psychological welfare and highlight the need to promote strategies to prevent emotional problems during a pandemic considering the identified profiles.

Psychological Symptoms in Italian, Spanish and Portuguese Youth During the COVID-19 Health Crisis: A Longitudinal Study.

Aiming to slow down the spread of the COVID-19, a lockdown was declared in the first term of 2020 in many European countries, applying different restrictions measures. Although the psychological effects of home confinement in children have been described, there is a lack of longitudinal research examining the impact of the confinement over time. The present study analyzes the evolution of the psychological wellbeing of children and adolescents from three European countries with different restrictions. Parents of 624 Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese children and adolescents aged 3 to 18 years old completed the "Impact Scale of COVID-19 and Home Confinement on Children and Adolescents" two, five, and eight weeks after the lockdown. Results show a different pattern for each country. Children from Italy, the first European country that applied a lockdown, were better adapted than Spanish and Portuguese children the first two weeks after confinement but they were more psychologically impacted by home confinement at the eight-week assessment. Portuguese children, who followed a general duty of home confinement, were the best adapted to the situation, with no significant differences over time. A significant change was found in anxiety symptoms in Spanish children, with a decrease at the last assessment. Findings suggest that long confinements and hard restrictions affect children, so prevention measures should be applied during confinements to prevent psychological problems in children.

How Super Skills for Life may help children to cope with the COVID-19: Psychological impact and coping styles after the program

As this is the first time that a pandemic has occurred in our recent history, preventive interventions for children's emotional problems during confinement were not planned. A main goal of Super Skills for Life Program (SSL) is to provide children with skills to build emotional resilience and coping strategies for daily and difficult life situations, so examining how the program may help children to face the COVID-19 situation could be appropriate. The aim of this research was to compare parents' perception of immediate psychological reactions to confinement and coping styles in children who received the SSL program before home confinement (n = 48) with an equivalent sample of children who did not attend the program (n = 48). Another objective was to study the relationship between children's immediate psychological reactions to confinement and their coping styles. Parents (n = 96) completed an online survey providing information on sociodemographic variables, children's immediate psychological reactions (anxiety/activation, mood, sleep, behavioral alterations, eating and cognitive alterations), and children's coping styles (task-oriented, emotion-oriented, and avoidance-oriented strategies). Results indicated that the control group presented more symptoms of anxiety (p <= .001), worse mood (p <= .001), more sleep problems (p <= .01), and more cognitive alterations (p <= .01) during home confinement than children who received the program. Children in the control group were also more likely to use emotion-oriented strategies (p = .001), which were associated with presenting more psychological alterations. Although the SSL program was not created specifically for coping with the COVID-19 situation, it seems to provide children with skills to cope with this unexpected event. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved) Abstract (Spanish) Puesto que esta es la primera vez que ocurre una pandemia en nuestra historia reciente, no ha sido posible planificar intervenciones para prevenir los problemas emocionales infantiles durante el confinamiento. Un objetivo principal del programa Super Skills for Life (SSL) es proporcionar a los ninos habilidades para desarrollar resiliencia emocional y hacer frente a situaciones diarias y dificiles en su vida, por lo que parece interesante examinar como el programa podria ayudar a los ninos a afrontar la situacion del COVID-19. El objetivo de este estudio fue comparar el impacto psicologico durante el confinamiento y los estilos de afrontamiento de los ninos que recibieron el programa SSL antes del confinamiento (n = 48), en comparacion con una muestra equivalente de ninos que no habian recibido el programa (n = 48). La informacion se obtuvo a traves de los padres (n = 96), quienes respondieron a unos cuestionarios online sobre variables sociodemograficas, reacciones psicologicas de los ninos (ansiedad/activacion, estado de animo, sueno, alteraciones conductuales, cambios en la alimentacion y alteraciones cognitivas) y estilos de afrontamiento (orientados a la tarea, a la emocion y a la evitacion). Los resultados indicaron que durante el confinamiento el grupo control presento mas sintomas de ansiedad (p <= .001), peor estado de animo (p <= .001), mas problemas de sueno (p <= .01) y mas alteraciones cognitivas (p <= .01), que los ninos que recibieron el programa. Los ninos del grupo control tambien eran mas propensos a utilizar estrategias orientadas a la emocion (p = .001), que se asociaron con mas alteraciones psicologicas. Aunque el programa SSL no se creo especificamente para hacer frente a la situacion del COVID-19, parece proporcionar a los ninos habilidades para hacer frente a este evento inesperado. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms in Children and Adolescents during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Transcultural Approach.

BACKGROUND: Despite being necessary to delay the spread of COVID-19, home confinement could have affected the emotional well-being of children and adolescents. Knowing which variables are involved in anxiety and depressive symptoms could help to prevent young people's psychological problems related to lockdown as early as possible. This cross-sectional study aims to examine anxiety and depressive symptomatology in Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese children and adolescents in order to determine which variables are related to poorer well-being during the pandemic. METHOD: The parents of 515 children, aged 3-18 years old, completed an online survey. Children's anxiety symptoms were assessed using the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale-Parent Version, and depressive symptoms were measured with the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire-Parent Version. RESULTS: We found differences in anxiety and depression between countries, with higher anxiety scores in Spanish children, and higher depression scores in Spanish and Italian children compared to the Portuguese. Anxiety and depressive symptoms were more likely in children whose parents reported higher levels of stress. CONCLUSIONS: These findings are discussed in the light of detecting and supporting affected children as early as possible.

Immediate Psychological Effects of the COVID-19 Quarantine in Youth From Italy and Spain.

The COVID-19 quarantine has affected more than 860 million children and adolescents worldwide, but to date, no study has been developed within Western countries to examine the psychological impact on their lives. The present study aims to examine for the first time the emotional impact of the quarantine on children and adolescents from Italy and Spain, two of the countries most affected by COVID-19. Participants were 1,143 parents of Italian and Spanish children aged 3 to 18 years who completed a survey providing information about how the quarantine affects their children and themselves, compared to before the home confinement. Results show that 85.7% of the parents perceived changes in their children's emotional state and behaviors during the quarantine. The most frequent symptoms were difficulty concentrating (76.6%), boredom (52%), irritability (39%), restlessness (38.8%), nervousness (38%), feelings of loneliness (31.3%), uneasiness (30.4%), and worries (30.1%). Spanish parents reported more symptoms than Italians. As expected, children of both countries used monitors more frequently, spent less time doing physical activity, and slept more hours during the quarantine. Furthermore, when family coexistence during quarantine became more difficult, the situation was more serious, and the level of stress was higher, parents tended to report more emotional problems in their children. The quarantine impacts considerably on Italian and Spanish youth, reinforcing the need to detect children with problems as early as possible to improve their psychological well-being.