- Researchers at the University of Glasgow analyzed data from 9,272 children.
- Those whose parents were employed experienced greater drops in mental health.
Children from middle-class families were hardest hit by the pandemic and suffered the most pronounced mental declines that could further damage their education, new research suggests.
Those whose parents worked, stayed together and were highly educated experienced greater declines in mental health than their less well-off peers.
Experts speculate that families forced to juggle work and homeschooling commitments suffered the most mental stress, while government support for disadvantaged households was effective.
The result is that the gap between the mental health of the poorest and richest children has narrowed according to the findings, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
He warned the consequences could be long-lasting, with poor mental health known to affect children’s ability to participate in education.
Experts speculate that families forced to juggle work and homeschooling commitments suffered the most mental stress, while government support for disadvantaged households was effective.
Researchers at the University of Glasgow analyzed data from 9,272 children as part of the UK Longitudinal Household Study.
Parents reported on children’s mental health using a standardized questionnaire when children were between five and eight years old between 2011 and 2019.
Mental health details were also recorded when they were aged between five and 11 in July 2020, September 2020 and March 2021, all during the pandemic.
The results showed that wealthier children experienced steeper declines in their mental health during the pandemic than more disadvantaged children, who tended to have lower mental health to begin with.
For example, the average difference in children’s scores between those whose parents were unemployed compared to those whose parents were employed was 2.35 points before the pandemic, but fell to 0.02 points during the pandemic; This means that inequalities were reduced.
The authors wrote: ‘Unexpectedly, in many cases children from traditionally advantaged groups experienced greater declines than children from disadvantaged groups; That is, children’s mental health has become more equal but at a worse overall level.
‘We speculate that social isolation and reduced access to services during the Covid-19 pandemic brought the experiences of traditionally advantaged groups closer to those already faced by children from disadvantaged backgrounds, and/or that emergency measures to support income during the pandemic may have alleviated the situation. economic burden on disadvantaged families.’
The findings are in stark contrast to many child health experts who say the financial and emotional strain of lockdowns would fall most heavily on children whose parents have unstable jobs, live in overcrowded housing and have less access to outdoor spaces and educational resources.
They suggest that the additional pressures faced by some working parents, who have had to balance childcare and paid work during the pandemic, may have contributed to the poorer mental health of children with employed parents during the pandemic.
Calling for more help for the mental health of all children, she added: “This strain, which has been linked to levels of parental distress, may have been greater in families with employed parents who needed to balance childcare with their remunerated job”.
“In addition, the intense pressures and increased risk of Covid infection faced by essential (key) workers in this period may have put further pressure on some families with employed parents.”
