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 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.

Automated summary

In the spring of 2020, many children in Finland dropped out of daycare and early education due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leading parents to balance work and childcare. A study revealed that the lockdown had impacts on the wellbeing of both children and parents, affecting family relationships and children's behavior and mental health. However, due to the small sample size, caution should be exercised when interpreting these results.