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Family functioning buffers the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for children’s quality of life and loneliness

COVID-19 resulted in mass quarantine measures early in the pandemic. This disruption of daily life widened inequities and made children one of the most vulnerable populations during the crisis. This national, cross-sectional “COVID-Kids” study collected data from almost 500 parent–child dyads using...

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Autores principales: Skeens, Micah A., Hill, Kylie, Olsavsky, Anna, Ralph, Jessica E., Udaipuria, Shivika, Akard, Terrah Foster, Gerhardt, Cynthia A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9880325/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36710839
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1079848
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author Skeens, Micah A.
Hill, Kylie
Olsavsky, Anna
Ralph, Jessica E.
Udaipuria, Shivika
Akard, Terrah Foster
Gerhardt, Cynthia A.
author_facet Skeens, Micah A.
Hill, Kylie
Olsavsky, Anna
Ralph, Jessica E.
Udaipuria, Shivika
Akard, Terrah Foster
Gerhardt, Cynthia A.
author_sort Skeens, Micah A.
collection PubMed
description COVID-19 resulted in mass quarantine measures early in the pandemic. This disruption of daily life widened inequities and made children one of the most vulnerable populations during the crisis. This national, cross-sectional “COVID-Kids” study collected data from almost 500 parent–child dyads using standardized measures to better understand the effects of COVID exposure and impact on children’s quality of life and loneliness. Data were collected via social media from May to July 2020. According to parent proxy and child self-report, United States children experienced worse quality of life (p < 0.0001; d = 0.45 and 0.53) and greater child-reported loneliness (p < 0.0001) when compared to normative, healthy samples (i.e., children who do not have a chronic medical condition). Older children (r = 0.16, p = 0.001) and female children (r = 0.11, p = 0.02) reported greater loneliness. Higher child-reported family functioning scores were associated with better quality of life (r = 0.36, p < 0.0001) and less loneliness (r = −0.49, p < 0.0001). Moderated mediation analyses indicated the indirect effect of parent COVID impact on the association between COVID exposure and child quality of life was weaker in the context of better family functioning. Results of this study raise concern for the short-and long-term sequelae of the pandemic on the physical and mental health of children. Healthcare providers and researchers must find new and innovative ways to protect the well-being of children. Strengthening family functioning may buffer the effects of the pandemic and improve overall quality of life in our “COVID Kids.”
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spelling pubmed-98803252023-01-28 Family functioning buffers the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for children’s quality of life and loneliness Skeens, Micah A. Hill, Kylie Olsavsky, Anna Ralph, Jessica E. Udaipuria, Shivika Akard, Terrah Foster Gerhardt, Cynthia A. Front Psychol Psychology COVID-19 resulted in mass quarantine measures early in the pandemic. This disruption of daily life widened inequities and made children one of the most vulnerable populations during the crisis. This national, cross-sectional “COVID-Kids” study collected data from almost 500 parent–child dyads using standardized measures to better understand the effects of COVID exposure and impact on children’s quality of life and loneliness. Data were collected via social media from May to July 2020. According to parent proxy and child self-report, United States children experienced worse quality of life (p < 0.0001; d = 0.45 and 0.53) and greater child-reported loneliness (p < 0.0001) when compared to normative, healthy samples (i.e., children who do not have a chronic medical condition). Older children (r = 0.16, p = 0.001) and female children (r = 0.11, p = 0.02) reported greater loneliness. Higher child-reported family functioning scores were associated with better quality of life (r = 0.36, p < 0.0001) and less loneliness (r = −0.49, p < 0.0001). Moderated mediation analyses indicated the indirect effect of parent COVID impact on the association between COVID exposure and child quality of life was weaker in the context of better family functioning. Results of this study raise concern for the short-and long-term sequelae of the pandemic on the physical and mental health of children. Healthcare providers and researchers must find new and innovative ways to protect the well-being of children. Strengthening family functioning may buffer the effects of the pandemic and improve overall quality of life in our “COVID Kids.” Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-01-13 /pmc/articles/PMC9880325/ /pubmed/36710839 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1079848 Text en Copyright © 2023 Skeens, Hill, Olsavsky, Ralph, Udaipuria, Akard and Gerhardt. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Skeens, Micah A.
Hill, Kylie
Olsavsky, Anna
Ralph, Jessica E.
Udaipuria, Shivika
Akard, Terrah Foster
Gerhardt, Cynthia A.
Family functioning buffers the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for children’s quality of life and loneliness
title Family functioning buffers the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for children’s quality of life and loneliness
title_full Family functioning buffers the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for children’s quality of life and loneliness
title_fullStr Family functioning buffers the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for children’s quality of life and loneliness
title_full_unstemmed Family functioning buffers the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for children’s quality of life and loneliness
title_short Family functioning buffers the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for children’s quality of life and loneliness
title_sort family functioning buffers the consequences of the covid-19 pandemic for children’s quality of life and loneliness
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9880325/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36710839
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1079848
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