Longitudinal increases in childhood depression symptoms during the COVID-19 lockdown

Abstract

ObjectiveThere has been widespread concern that so-called lockdown measures, including social distancing and school closures, could negatively impact children’s mental health. However, there has been little direct evidence of any association due to the paucity of longitudinal studies reporting mental health before and during the lockdown. This present study provides the first longitudinal examination of changes in childhood mental health, a key component of an urgently needed evidence base that can inform policy and practice surrounding the continuing response to the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsMental health assessments on 168 children (aged 7.6–11.6 years) were taken before and during the UK lockdown (April–June 2020). Assessments included self-reports, caregiver reports, and teacher reports. Mean mental health scores before and during the UK lockdown were compared using mixed linear models.ResultsA significant increase in depression symptoms during the UK lockdown was observed, as measured by the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS) short form. CIs suggest a medium-to-large effect size. There were no significant changes in the RCADS anxiety subscale and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire emotional problems subscale.ConclusionsDuring the UK lockdown, children’s depression symptoms have increased substantially, relative to before lockdown. The scale of this effect has direct relevance for the continuation of different elements of lockdown policy, such as complete or partial school closures. This early evidence for the direct impact of lockdown must now be combined with larger scale epidemiological studies that establish which children are most at risk and tracks their future recovery.

Interplay between long‐term vulnerability and new risk: Young adolescent and maternal mental health immediately before and during the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…Compared to other studies with pre-COVID-19 and postlockdown measurement, the finding of an increase in depressive symptoms is consistent with one previous study (Bignardi et al, 2020), but it differs from another which found no change in depressive F I G U R E 5 Impact of being in the 'high-risk' category of potential moderators of the effects of the pandemic on the increase in symptoms from pre to post-pandemic F I G U R E 6 Rates of clinically significant child and mother symptoms of depression comparing those in the most deprived IMD, Indices of Multiple Deprivation Index quintile with the remainder WRIGHT ET AL.…”

COVID-19 Management in the Pediatric Age: Consensus Document of the COVID-19 Working Group in Paediatrics of the Emilia-Romagna Region (RE-CO-Ped), Italy

“…In the literature, emotional and overall discomfort problems resulting from the lockdown period, the school closure and poor socialization are becoming increasingly evident also in the pediatric population. The results of the studies show that the nature and extent of this impact depend on various vulnerability factors such as developmental age, pre-existing physical and mental health conditions, being economically disadvantaged, but also being quarantined due to infection or risk of infection [ 16 , 180 , 181 , 182 ].…”

COVID-19-related changes in adolescents' daily-life social interactions and psychopathology symptoms

“…Where studies have been able to combine pre-and early-pandemic data on psychopathology symptoms, results are limited and conflicting. One study reported increases in anxiety levels pre-to earlypandemic (Magson et al, 2021), while other studies have reported decreases (Widnall et al, 2020) or stability in anxiety symptoms (Barendse et al, 2021;Bignardi et al, 2020).…”