Exploring the role of COVID-19 pandemic-related changes in social interactions on preschoolers' emotion labeling

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic people were increasingly obliged to wear facial masks and to reduce the number of people they met in person. In this study, we asked how these changes in social interactions are associated with young children's emotional development, specifically their emotion recognition via the labeling of emotions. Preschoolers labeled emotional facial expressions of adults (Adult Faces Task) and children (Child Faces Task) in fully visible faces. In addition, we assessed children's COVID-19-related experiences (i.e., time spent with people wearing masks, number of contacts without masks) and recorded children's gaze behavior during emotion labeling. We compared different samples of preschoolers (4.00–5.75 years): The data for the no-COVID-19-experience sample were taken from studies conducted before the pandemic (Adult Faces Task: N = 40; Child Faces Task: N = 30). The data for the with-COVID-19-experience sample (N = 99) were collected during the COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland between June and November 2021. The results did not indicate differences in children's labeling behavior between the two samples except for fearful adult faces. Children with COVID-19-experience more often labeled fearful faces correctly compared to children with no COVID-19 experience. Furthermore, we found no relations between children's labeling behavior, their individual COVID-19-related experiences, and their gaze behavior. These results suggest that, even though the children had experienced differences in the amount and variability of facial input due to the pandemic, they still received enough input from visible faces to be able to recognize and label different emotions.

O impacto do uso de máscaras faciais na compreensão de emoções em crianças e adolescentes: desafios e estratégias para a comunicação e interação social

“…Apesar das dificuldades impostas pelo uso de máscaras faciais, é notável a capacidade das crianças e adolescentes em adaptarem-se a essa nova realidade. Um estudo experimental realizado na Alemanha, durante a pandemia de COVID-19, revelou que as crianças préescolares foram capazes de reconhecer corretamente as expressões de medo mesmo diante do uso de máscaras, indicando a resiliência de sua capacidade em interpretar emoções (WERMELINGER et al, 2022).…”

“…Estudos têm destacado que o uso de máscaras pode limitar a capacidade desses jovens em interpretar expressões emocionais, afetando, assim, sua interação social. Além disso, tem-se observado que o uso contínuo de máscaras pode ter repercussões na saúde mental dessa faixa etária, resultando em um aumento do estresse e da ansiedade (CRIMON et al, 2022;FREIBERG et al, 2021;WERMELINGER et al, 2022).…”

“…Intervenções adequadas são fundamentais para promover o bem-estar emocional desses jovens em tempos de pandemia e garantir um desenvolvimento saudável das habilidades sociais e emocionais. Ao considerar esses aspectos, pode-se facilitar uma comunicação mais efetiva e uma interação social mais enriquecedora, proporcionando-lhes o apoio necessário para enfrentar os desafios impostos pelo uso de máscaras e promover uma adaptação bem-sucedida (GIORDANO et al, 2022;WERMELINGER et al, 2022).…”

Duration of Face Mask Exposure Matters: Evidence from Swiss and Brazilian Kindergartners’ Ability to Recognize Emotions

“…Recently, studies have examined the influence of masks on emotion recognition (e.g., Barrick et al, 2020;Calbi et al, 2021;Carbon, 2020;Marini et al, 2021;Pazhoohi et al, 2021;Ruba & Pollak, 2020;Wermelinger, Moersdorf, Ammann, et al, 2022). Calbi et al (2021) showed that adults correctly recognized emotions in faces with masks and they did not attribute more negative valence to faces with masks compared to faces wearing scarfs that similarly covered the mouth.…”