Covid pandemic impacts child psyche, study finds
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, March 24 2021:
Even though children were not considered to be 'the face of the pandemic', they were found to be extremely vulnerable to trauma and other adverse psycho-social impacts induced by the crisis (Covid-19 pandemic).
This was concluded from a study jointly conducted by Child Rights and You (CRY) and The School of Human Ecology, Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS).
The student titled 'Understanding Children's Experience During the Covid-19 pandemic: Stressors, Resilience, Support and Adaptation' was conducted to understand children and adolescents' experiences of stress during the lockdown months and how they have been coping and showing resilience through this pandemic.
The study found that the public health crisis had impacted children's psycho-social well being in the intervening months of the lockdown and found that almost half of the child-respondents (48.7%) reported that their daily routine had 'changed a lot' and a little less than 50% reported of 'feeling worried' (41.9%) or 'bored' (45.2%) .
The anxiety experienced by the children had been compounded by the dwindling family economy, prolonged school closure and home confinement, found the recently concluded study.
A total of 821 children - 470 girls and 351 boys within the age group 9-17 years across 13 cities namely Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Indore, Pune, Siliguri, Darjeeling, Imphal, Moreh and Pattan participated in the study.
One in every four respondents (26%) cited financial problems to be the biggest stress factor during the pandemic months, thus attributing economic distress in the family to e the most frequently cited stressor, followed by uncertainty about when the Covid will end (24%) and worry about contracting the virus (23.5%) .
While the study did not find gender or age of the respondents to play any determining role in experiencing stress, a lower family income was associated with greater stress.
More than one fourth of the children shared that engaging in recreation, such as playing (26.4%), listening to music (10.4%) or watching TV (10.2%) enabled them to soothe themselves when they felt upset or worried.
Many children (6.4%) stated that their support systems and their ability to think positively (15.7%) were the strengths that enabled them to cope with the pandemic.
44.9% of the child respondents reportedly had experienced stress or trauma, among whom 43.3% were girls and 46.9% were boys.
While talking about the support received from the family in managing emotions, respondents underscored the role played by mother as highest with 59.3% .