COVID-19 school and kindergarten closure relates to children's social relationships: a longitudinal study in Japan

The COVID-19 pandemic has led children to experience school closures. Although increasing evidence suggests that such intense social quarantine influences children's social relationships with others, longitudinal studies are limited. Using longitudinal data collected during (T1) and after (T2) intensive school closure and home confinement, this study investigated the impacts of social quarantine on children's social relationships. Japanese parents of children aged 0-9 years (n = 425) completed an online questionnaire that examined children's socio-emotional behavior and perceived proximity to parents or others. The results demonstrated that social quarantine was not significantly related to children's socio-emotional behavior across all age groups. However, changes in children's perceived proximity varied depending on certain age-related factors: elementary schoolers' perceived closeness to parents significantly decreased after the reopening of schools, whereas that to others, such as peers, increased. Such effects were not observed in infants and preschoolers. The follow-up survey 9-month after the reopening of schools (T3; n = 130) did not detect significant differences in both children's socio-emotional behavior and perceived proximity from that after the intense quarantine. These findings suggest that school closure and home confinement may have influenced children's social development differently across their age, and its effects were larger in perceived closeness rather than social behavior.

Automated summary

The COVID-19 pandemic led to school closures and affected children's social relationships. This study found that social quarantine did not significantly impact children's socio-emotional behavior, but it did affect their perceived closeness to parents and others. Elementary schoolers felt less close to their parents but closer to peers after schools reopened. These effects were not observed in infants and preschoolers. The follow-up survey after school reopening did not find significant differences in children's socio-emotional behavior and perceived closeness compared to the quarantine period.