Abstract
Little is known about the emotional experience of children and young people during lockdown, their coping strategies on COVID-19 pandemic context and their influence on the emotional state when dealing with the challenges associated with lockdown. In this study, 1031 children and young people (865 aged 8-15 years old and 166 aged 16-25 years old) answered an online self-report survey, specifically designed to assess the perceived potential contribution of SES learned/developed in the Gulbenkian Academies for Knowledge—a national initiative—in coping with the consequences of the context of the COVID-19 pandemic during the Portugal first lockdown. There are three main findings. First, the prevalent emotional pattern was predominantly negative (53.7%) for the younger participants (most frequent emotions: boredom 66.9%; worry 47.8%) and predominantly positive (52.0%) for the older participants (most frequent emotions: boredom 70.1% and tranquillity 52.6%). Second, school activities (25.2%, 8-15 subsample; 32.7%, 16-25 subsample) and self-knowledge and self-regulation activities/strategies (24.8%, 8-15 subsample; 20.0%, 16-25 subsample) were the most frequently reported by participants from both subsamples and that this has significantly interfered with their emotional state: among 8-15 subsample, they reported feeling more excited, more calm, more optimistic and more hopeful; among 16-25 subsample, they reported feeling more cheered up, more optimistic, more quiet and more hopeful. Culinary and horticultural activities predict about 4% the possibility of feeling hope, sadness, optimism, irritation, and worry (8-15 years old) and school activities contribute about 17% to the explanation of the emotional states of sadness and optimism (16-25 years old). Third, both the younger and the older participants showed a medium-superior level of socio-emotional skills and those SES predict about 20% the possibility of feeling optimistic, irritation, sad, hopeful, and bored (8-15 years old) and about 12% the possibility of feeling sadness (16-25 years old). The potential of social and emotional skills in exceptional circumstances and vulnerabilities are discussed.
Highlights
There is clear evidence on the association between a sustainable and resilient development trajectory on human lives and economic, environmental, and social progress (OECD, 2020a)
To characterize the emotional state of children and young people during lockdown, the emotional patterns were analysed in both subsamples
Participants were asked to select three out of eight emotions regarding the question: “During lockdown, how did you feel most of the time?”, which allowed us to analyse the emotional state as predominantly positive/negative or exclusively positive/negative
Summary
There is clear evidence on the association between a sustainable and resilient development trajectory on human lives and economic, environmental, and social progress (OECD, 2020a). Recent studies have shown that an increase in SES in children and young people is related to a decrease in mental health problems, a decrease in school failure and school dropout, and better living conditions in adult life, such as better jobs, higher income (Chernyshenko & Kankaraš, 2018; Greenberg et al, 2017) and higher social justice (Muñiz, 2020). Flexibility, openness to change, problem solving, resilience, self-regulation, critical thinking, communication, collaboration are key skills to weather and rebound from crisis (International Labour Organisation & World Bank, 2021; National Research Council, 2012)
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