6 March 2021 | New Scientist | 9Ford. But for preschool children,
it is almost non-existent – even
though they are arguably the
most vulnerable because they
are missing out on the transition
into school and are too young
to understand why.
What we do know is troubling.
In May 2020, Co-SPYCE, a sister
study to Co-SPACE, reported that
nearly three-quarters of parents
of preschool children said they
couldn’t balance work and their
children’s needs. Their biggest
worry was that their kids were
missing out on socialising.
Lockdown habits
In the middle of 2020, Beki
Langford at the University of
Bristol in the UK and her team
interviewed 20 parents in England
with 3 to 5-year-old children due
to start school in September.
During the first lockdown in
March, many of the children were
reported to be snacking more,
being less physically active,
spending more time on screens
and having difficulty getting to
sleep – at a time when they are
forming their habits.
“They lost a huge amount of
their early years education,” says
Langford. Now they have been
taken out of school just months
after starting. “They’ve had
the double whammy, because
they have been particularly
affected by both of those
lockdowns.” Children who are
turning 4 have lived a quarter
of their lives in the pandemic.
There is evidence that the
easing of the first UK lockdown
helped children. Creswell and her
colleagues found that children’s
mental health declined during the
lockdown, but their difficulties
with behaviour, emotion and
attention began decreasing in July,
when restrictions were easing.
“Things did improve,” she says.Now, however, the UK is locked
down again. Anecdotally, it feels
worse this time.
The new lockdown may have
been particularly upsetting
because it came after vaccinations
began, says Creswell. “Before
Christmas, everyone was excited
that we were nearly at the end, and
then everything’s gone backwards
a bit, so those things have had an
impact on people and increased
the uncertainty.”
It will be some time before
we know whether factors like
these have influenced children’s
reactions. But there is evidence
that the new lockdown is harming
adults’ mental health. On
13 January, an online survey by
Ipsos MORI revealed that many
British adults are finding it harderto stay positive from day to
day. The UK Office for National
Statistics regularly surveys
people’s reactions to the
pandemic, and for 7 to 10 January –
during the first week when all
parts of the country were in
lockdown – people’s anxiety levels
were the worst since April 2020.
Similarly, Creswell’s team
says that parental stress and
depression increased during
the first UK lockdown. Those
with children under 10 reported
more stress, particularly related
to their kids’ behaviour. Those
with older children reported
more depression.
This is critical because children’s
mental health is impacted by that
of the adults they live with. “There
is a known link between parental
mental health and challenging
behaviour – particularly in young
boys, but also in young girls – and
a strong link between parental
mental health and child mental
health,” says Ford.
For children who are anxious,
Creswell is now testing a new
treatment regime in which
parents can access a specially
designed website and get weekly
telephone sessions with atherapist. She and her team have
also developed an app to help
parents of primary-age children
manage difficult behaviours,
which they are gearing up to test.
Children’s mental health was
declining in the UK even before
the pandemic. In 2017, Ford
revealed that the likelihood of
people in England aged 4 to 24
reporting a mental health
condition increased sixfold
between 1995 and 2014. “That
was almost entirely explained
by an increase in anxiety and
depression disorders that seemed
to be particularly marked in
teenagers,” says Ford.This may be why a significant
proportion of UK teenagers report
that lockdown improved their
lives. One study found that 13 and
14-year-olds with poor mental
health and well-being before
lockdown saw the biggest
improvements during it.
It isn’t just the UK where
children’s mental health has been
declining for years. In the US,
between 2007 and 2016, children’s
visits to emergency departments
for mental health conditions
rose 60 per cent. A 2019 study
estimated that as many as 1 in 6
children in the US aged between
6 and 17 has a mental health
condition such as depression.
“Our children were not doing
well before the pandemic,” says
Ford, “and the pandemic is almost
certainly not going to help for the
vast majority of them.” ❚Need a listening ear? UK Samaritans:
116123 (samaritans.org). Visit
bit. ly/SuicideHelplines for hotlines
and websites for other countries“ Before Christmas, people
were excited that we were
nearly at the end and then
things went backwards”DAVIDLEAHY/GET
TY
IMAGESYounger schoolchildren
are feeling the effects
of loneliness the most
3/
Of parents of preschool children
couldn’t balance work and their
kids’ needs in April/May 2020Parental Guidance newsletter
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