ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 health crisis has led to a dramatic change in dynamics and habits of families, which may be a factor involved in the development and maintenance of problems and difficulties in children. The present study is a cross-sectional study that aims to describe and analyze the relationship between the difficulties in psychological adjustment and the change of habits of the infant-juvenile population as perceived by their parents and their stress and resilience during the total confinement of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain, as well as analyzing the course of the changes and the relationships between weeks 3 to 6, that is, the score of different participants in each week of the confinement. The sample is comprised of 883 parents of children and adolescents between 3 and 18 years of age. Children's psychological adjustment, children's habits, parental stress, and parental resilience were assessed by parents. The results show that parents perceive a change in the habits and psychological difficulties in their children. At the same time, our results describe parents with a high level of stress and resilience, with differences depending on the children's ages. The time of confinement accentuates the perception of parents about the psychological difficulties of their children and parental stress, as well as a decrease in resilience. These difficulties are reduced when the parent has resilience competencies. These results show that the resilience of parents mediate the relationship between parental stress and psychological problems of their children. These results shows that COVID-19 lockdown had a considerable effect on families, both on children and parents. Some practical implications based on results are provided.
ABSTRACT
La pandemia COVID-19 ha conllevado un confinamiento que puede haber afectado al bienestar social y emocional en la infancia y adolescencia, como se está estudiando desde diferentes investigaciones. El presente estudio analiza las relaciones entre el estado psicológico general de los menores y los miedos a enfermedades y contagios por virus; además, valora estas relaciones en el trascurso del confinamiento y en función de la edad. Han participado 972 familias con hijos/as entre 3 y 18 años. Los resultados indican que las mayores dificultades psicológicas se centran en los problemas emocionales, los problemas de conducta y la puntuación de dificultades totales. Además, se evidencia una relación positiva entre los miedos asociados a la COVID-19 y la presencia de esos problemas en la población infanto-juvenil. Se destaca que, según avanza el confinamiento, aumenta la presencia de dificultades psicológicas y que estas afectan de manera diferencial en la infancia y en la adolescencia
Evolution of psychological state and fear in childhood and adolescence during COVID-19 lockdown. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a lockdown that may have affected social and emotional well-being in childhood and adolescence, as is being explored from different research. The present study analyses the relations between the general psychological state and the fears of diseases and virus infections. Furthermore, it assesses these relations in the course of lockdown and as a function of age. A total of 972 families with children between 3 and 18 have participated. The results indicate that the highest psychological difficulties are focused on emotional symptoms, the behavioral problems and the total difficulty score. In addition, there is a positive relation between fears associated with COVID-19 and the presence of these problems in the infant population. It should be noted that, as confinement advances, the presence of psychological difficulties increases, and these affect children and adolescents differently
