COVID-19: Psychological symptoms and coping strategies in preschoolers, schoolchildren, and adolescents

Abstract

The present study aimed to compare psychological symptoms and coping strategies in 1480 preschoolers, schoolchildren, and adolescents during home confinement due to COVID-19. We enrolled parents from Italy, Portugal, and Spain who completed a survey between the second and fourth week of lockdown. The results showed that preschoolers displayed more sleeping difficulties, temper tantrums, and dependency while adolescents' reactions were more related to COVID-19 worries and uncertainty. Schoolchildren showed more difficulty in concentrating. Adolescent girls showed higher anxiety levels than schoolchildren boys. Schoolchildren relied more on emotion-oriented strategies, which were linked to increased internalizing and externalizing symptoms in all ages. Task-oriented strategies, regardless of the child's age, work best to cope with stress. Our findings provide information for professionals and parents about children's most common and adaptive coping strategies according to age. Furthermore, they contribute to the early detection of long-term psychological maladjustment in children.

Psychosocial Stressors among School-Age Children and Coping Strategies during Covid-19 Pandemic

“…They found that task-oriented coping was the most widely reported coping mechanism by school-age children during the pandemic. While, the study finding of Delvecchio et al, (2022) is contradicted with the result of the present study as they found that the school-age children's use of emotionfocused techniques may be linked to their common imitation in play, drawings, and stories of their fears and worries, which are normal activities at this stage .…”

“…It could be due to the male children at this stage are very physically active than female and interested in playing, while social isolation restricted their movements. This finding is congruent with Delvecchio et al, (2022), who studied the psychological effects of COVID-19 and coping mechanisms of preschool, school-age children, and adolescent, and mentioned that stress was higher in males at school age, while it peaked in adolescence in females. On the contrary, the study findings of McKune et al, (2021) revealed that the frequency of those exhibiting psychosocial stress symptoms, were markedly greater among females .…”

“…These findings are in harmony with Idoiaga, Berasategi, Eiguren, and Picaza (2020) who mentioned that children between the ages of 3 and 12 were afraid of contracting the virus primarily out of concern for their family members, particularly their grandparents. Delvecchio et al, (2022), also were congruent with this finding and noted that school age children had more difficulty concentrating and were more anxious about contracting COVID-19 .…”

“…The coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) was considered a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on January 30, 2020, as a result of the virus' rapid global spread (Delvecchio et al, 2022). Researches revealed that the psychological effects of prolonged stressful situations, such as social isolation and high levels of uncertainty have a negative psychosocial effects in school-age children (Dhochak et al, 2020) (Cianfarani & Pampanini, 2021).…”

Trauma-Informed Care for Hospitalized Adolescents

“…Notably, adolescents have experienced the results of governments and communities failing to address the impact of structural violence and racism. Though the full extent of the impact of racism and other structural inequities, as well as the effects of COVID-19 pandemic, on developing youth has yet to be quantified, increased hospitalizations and diagnoses suggest that anxiety, fear, anger, loneliness, and grief associated with these events has led to toxic stress for many adolescents [ 16 ••, 17 , 18 ].…”