Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Children and Adolescents: Cognitive and Emotional Representations.

Alexandra Maftei,Ioan-Alex Merlici,Iulia-Cristina Roca

doi:10.3390/children9030359

Abstract

The present research investigated children and adolescents’ explicit and spontaneous representation of the COVID-19 pandemic and their related emotions, cognitions, and coping strategies. We explored the self-reported protective factors and coping mechanisms, in addition to similar attributional emotional experiences, i.e., the ways participants evaluated others’ pandemic experiences. Our sample consisted of 155 children and adolescents aged 10 to 13 (M = 10.70, SD = 0.85, 56.1% females). We designed a 12-item survey and analyzed our data using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Our findings suggested that most children and adolescents associated masks with the thought of the novel coronavirus, and the most frequently associated emotion was sadness (45.2%), followed by fear (17.4%). Generally, participants reported a medium level of perceived adverse effects of the pandemic, mainly because their regular physical school classes moved to the online setting. We also found a significant association between children’s self-reported levels of harmful effects of the pandemic and perceived adverse effects on their families. Most participants expressed their dissatisfaction concerning online school classes, primarily due to poor online interaction. In our sample, the children and adolescents reported positive thoughts and family relationships as their primary coping mechanisms during the pandemic, suggesting similar perceived coping mechanisms in the others around them. Finally, more than half of the participants considered that the COVID-19 pandemic had no positive effects, while 40% considered the increased time spent with their families the primary positive consequences following the COVID-19 health crisis. Results are discussed regarding their implications concerning healthcare, social, and educational policies.

Highlights

COVID-19 is an infectious disease, first reported in Wuhan, China, on 31 December2019 [1]
The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Romania was reported on 26 February 2020
The systematic review conducted by Meherali and their collaborators [16] highlighted that (1) both children and adolescents are more prone to experience increased rates of depression and anxiety during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, which is a highly concerning fact due to the short and long-term implications; and (2) compared to adults, the long term adverse consequences of the COVID-19 on children’s and adolescents’ mental health are higher. Given these significant implications of the pandemic, our study aimed to investigate the ways children and adolescents explicitly and spontaneously represent the COVID-19 pandemic and the related emotions, cognitions, and coping strategies

Summary

Introduction

COVID-19 is an infectious disease, first reported in Wuhan, China, on 31 December2019 [1]. COVID-19 is an infectious disease, first reported in Wuhan, China, on 31 December. Common symptoms include dry cough, dyspnea, myalgia, fatigue and joint pain, gastrointestinal symptoms, dysgeusia or ageusia (a distortion of tastes or a complete loss of taste), anosmia (a partial or complete loss of the sense of smell), and fever [2]. The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Romania was reported on 26 February 2020. 147 confirmed cases in Romania, 88 were imported, with most carriers (sixty-four) coming from Italy [3]. The first three deaths caused by COVID-19 infections were reported on 22. More than 424 million cases have been reported worldwide (time of writing: February 2022), and more than 5.89 million people have died due to COVID-19

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