Social, Family, and Educational Impacts on Anxiety and Cognitive Empathy Derived From the COVID-19: Study on Families With Children

Abstract

This research aims to monitor the current situation of confinement in Spanish society motivated by COVID-19 crisis. For this, a study of its socio-family, psychological and educational impact is conducted. The sample (N = 165 families, 89.1% nuclear families with children living in the same household and 20.5% with a relative in a risk group) comes from the Aragonese region (Spain). The instruments used are: Beck-II Depression Inventory (BDI-II); Baron-Cohen and Wheelwright’s Empathy Quotient (EQ) with its cognitive empathy subscale, as well as an ad-hoc questionnaire, reviewed by a panel of experts, to learn about socio-personal, family and housing conditions, use of technology, involvement in school tasks and household, and working condition. The multiple regression analysis results show that the anxiety derived from the current situation is explained in 23.1% (p < 0.001) by the variables: gender (t = -2.31, p = 0.022), level of Internet consumption (t = 2.139, p = 0.034), increase of family conflicts (t = 2.980, p = 0.003) and help with school tasks (t = 2.980, p = 0.040). On the other hand, cognitive empathy is explained in 24.6% (p < 0.001) by the variables: gender (t = -4.690, p < 0.001) and mother’s hours of teleworking (t = 2.101, p = 0.037). All this leads us to conclusions related to preventive systems of social, psychological, and educational aspects to better serve families. These conclusions can be also be transferred to the future with an inclusive care to family settings from those three parameters.

Telework and Psychological Health in Hospital Staff during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Epidemic in France

“…These results are consistent with those of Deirdre et al, who showed that many parents had to juggle work commitments with the increased demands on their time, including the practical aspects of supervising children's learning, exercise and play [19]. A study of the general Spanish population during the COVID-19 pandemic showed that anxiety was positively associated with the female gender and with the time spent helping their children, as in our study [20]. Our study also found that anxiety was associated with annoyance by noise, as highlighted in the study by Amerio et al [21].…”

Empathy through the Pandemic: Changes of Different Emphatic Dimensions during the COVID-19 Outbreak

“…We observed that, about one year after the global pandemic outbreak, empathic social skills were impacted negatively whereas perspective-taking and emotional empathy increased. The capacity to empathize with and share another’s emotion could represent a person’s strength, while reduced empathic social skills could be a weakness to be targeted in psychological interventions to help people cope with the mental health challenges related to COVID-19 pandemic [ 3 , 46 ].…”

¿Afectan las redes sociales a nuestra empatía? Un estudio con jóvenes universitarios

“…La literatura académica expone la innegable comorbilidad que tiene la adicción a Internet con otras patologías como depresión, ansiedad, trastornos internalizantes y externalizantes, insomnio, traumas infantiles, etc. (Brailovskaia et al, 2019;Quílez-Robres et al, 2021;Lozano et al, 2020;Lu et al, 2018;Tas, 2019). De manera específica, las personas que padecen adicción a Internet y ansiedad exponen cómo las redes sociales retroalimentan la sintomatología ansiosa.…”

“…De inicio, los resultados son coincidentes con investigaciones previas que señalan el aumento de la prevalencia de esta patología (Černja et al, 2019;Cheng y Li, 2014;Müller et al, 2014). Una de las mayores dificultades a las que se enfrenta el sistema sanitario y educativo es la comorbilidad elevada de la adicción junto a trastornos como la ansiedad, y a dificultades en habilidades sociales y empatía (Brailovskaia et al, 2019;Quílez-Robres et al, 2021;Lozano et al, 2020;Lu et al, 2018;Tas, 2019).…”

“…También se plantea la necesidad de realizar estudios de revisión acerca de las terapias más afectivas en la mejora de la empatía para poder seleccionar y proponer un modelo interventivo ajustado a las características de una población con adicción a las redes sociales. Por último, se considera que sería de gran interés la realización de un estudio comparativo entre los estudiantes de diferentes cursos de una misma titulación.El presente estudio tiene como principal limitación la causada por la excepcionalidad de la situación pandémica; teniendo en cuenta que las investigaciones de los últimos meses señalan que la empatía ha podido verse modificada a razón de la pandemia(Quílez-Robres et al, 2021;Lozano et al, 2020). Esta situación ha podidoREIIT, 2021, 1, 105-130 ¿AFECTAN LAS REDES SOCIALES A NUESTRA EMPATÍA?…”