CYP Now - Pandemic impacted most children’s social and emotional development, research finds

Almost half of parents say their child’s social and emotional skills worsened during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to new research.

Younger children saw the greatest impact of the pandemic on their social and emotional development, research finds. Picture: Iryna/Adobe Stock

A survey by the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) found that just one in six children saw their social and emotional development improve over this period.

Children aged four to seven were 10 percentage points more likely to have seen their social and emotional development worsen than 12- to 15-year-olds.

“Unlike previous research into academic learning loss, the study finds no evidence that children in disadvantaged families fared worse,” according to the research.

However, children whose parents’ employment situation changed during the pandemic are far more likely to see their social and emotional skills worsen, researchers found.

“This happened even in cases where parents were furloughed, pointing to the important negative impact that parental job instability can have on children even when not accompanied by significant earnings loss,” the report states.

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