The impact of routines on emotional and behavioural difficulties in children and on parental anxiety during COVID-19
BackgroundThe Covid-19 pandemic and related public health measures, including lockdowns and school closures, have impacted on mental health of children.Aims and hypothesisWe hypothesised that there would be an association between maintaining a routine during lockdown and both lower emotional and beh...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frcha.2023.1114850/full |
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| author | Vera Lees Rosie Hay Helen Bould Helen Bould Helen Bould Alex S. F. Kwong Daniel Major-Smith Daniel Major-Smith Daphne Kounali Rebecca M. Pearson Rebecca M. Pearson |
| author_facet | Vera Lees Rosie Hay Helen Bould Helen Bould Helen Bould Alex S. F. Kwong Daniel Major-Smith Daniel Major-Smith Daphne Kounali Rebecca M. Pearson Rebecca M. Pearson |
| author_sort | Vera Lees |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | BackgroundThe Covid-19 pandemic and related public health measures, including lockdowns and school closures, have impacted on mental health of children.Aims and hypothesisWe hypothesised that there would be an association between maintaining a routine during lockdown and both lower emotional and behavioural difficulties in children and lower parental anxiety. Routine was taken as keeping to the same basic activities such as mealtimes and bedtimes. We also hypothesised that children of ‘keyworker’ parents would have fewer emotional and behavioural symptoms due to having maintained more normal routines. The key reason was that children of keyworkers still attended school or nursery and parents would have been getting up and coming home at the same times as pre-Covid. Keyworker status was defined as those whose work was essential to Covid-19 response, including work in health and social care and other key sectors.MethodsWe used data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) to explore associations between maintaining a routine, and emotional and behavioural difficulties in children, using linear regression models. All eligible ALSPAC-G2 participants were sent the survey and the responders are representative of the eligible G2 population. We included measures of parental anxiety. We separately explored associations with having a keyworker parent. We used the Carey Infant Temperament Questionnaire and the Revised Rutter Parent Scale for Preschool Children to establish levels of emotional and behavioural difficulties. The measures were chosen to match previous waves in multi-generations in ALSPAC where they had been shown to be predictive of later mental health in children. The scales measure emotional and behavioural problems.ResultsTwo hundred eighty-nine parents completed questionnaires about their 411 children. Keeping a routine was associated with emotional and behavioural difficulty scores 5.0 points lower (95% CI −10.0 to −0.1), p = 0.045 than not keeping a routine. Parents who reported keeping a routine had anxiety scores 4.3 points lower (95% CI −7.5 to −1.1), p = 0.009 than those who did not. Children of keyworkers tended to have lower emotional and behavioural difficulty scores [−3.1 (95%CI −6.26 to 0.08), p = 0.056] than children of non-keyworkers. All models were adjusted for relevant potential confounders.ConclusionMaintaining a routine may be beneficial for both child emotional wellbeing and parental anxiety, although it is also possible that lower parental anxiety levels made maintaining a routine easier. Being the child of a keyworker parent during lockdown may have been protective for child emotional wellbeing. |
| format | Article |
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| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2813-4540 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
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| spelling | doaj-art-60c6289ef0ad40ab8189c742f940eb3d2025-01-17T15:37:15ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry2813-45402023-12-01210.3389/frcha.2023.11148501114850The impact of routines on emotional and behavioural difficulties in children and on parental anxiety during COVID-19Vera Lees0Rosie Hay1Helen Bould2Helen Bould3Helen Bould4Alex S. F. Kwong5Daniel Major-Smith6Daniel Major-Smith7Daphne Kounali8Rebecca M. Pearson9Rebecca M. Pearson10Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust, Gloucestershire, United KingdomChild and Adolescent Mental Health Service, Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust, Gloucestershire, United KingdomChild and Adolescent Mental Health Service, Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust, Gloucestershire, United KingdomCentre for Academic Mental Health, Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, United KingdomMRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, United KingdomCentre for Academic Mental Health, Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, United KingdomPopulation Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, United KingdomCentre for Academic Child Health, University of Bristol, Bristol, United KingdomCentre for Academic Mental Health, Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, United KingdomCentre for Academic Mental Health, Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, United KingdomFaculty of Health, Psychology and Social Care, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, United KingdomBackgroundThe Covid-19 pandemic and related public health measures, including lockdowns and school closures, have impacted on mental health of children.Aims and hypothesisWe hypothesised that there would be an association between maintaining a routine during lockdown and both lower emotional and behavioural difficulties in children and lower parental anxiety. Routine was taken as keeping to the same basic activities such as mealtimes and bedtimes. We also hypothesised that children of ‘keyworker’ parents would have fewer emotional and behavioural symptoms due to having maintained more normal routines. The key reason was that children of keyworkers still attended school or nursery and parents would have been getting up and coming home at the same times as pre-Covid. Keyworker status was defined as those whose work was essential to Covid-19 response, including work in health and social care and other key sectors.MethodsWe used data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) to explore associations between maintaining a routine, and emotional and behavioural difficulties in children, using linear regression models. All eligible ALSPAC-G2 participants were sent the survey and the responders are representative of the eligible G2 population. We included measures of parental anxiety. We separately explored associations with having a keyworker parent. We used the Carey Infant Temperament Questionnaire and the Revised Rutter Parent Scale for Preschool Children to establish levels of emotional and behavioural difficulties. The measures were chosen to match previous waves in multi-generations in ALSPAC where they had been shown to be predictive of later mental health in children. The scales measure emotional and behavioural problems.ResultsTwo hundred eighty-nine parents completed questionnaires about their 411 children. Keeping a routine was associated with emotional and behavioural difficulty scores 5.0 points lower (95% CI −10.0 to −0.1), p = 0.045 than not keeping a routine. Parents who reported keeping a routine had anxiety scores 4.3 points lower (95% CI −7.5 to −1.1), p = 0.009 than those who did not. Children of keyworkers tended to have lower emotional and behavioural difficulty scores [−3.1 (95%CI −6.26 to 0.08), p = 0.056] than children of non-keyworkers. All models were adjusted for relevant potential confounders.ConclusionMaintaining a routine may be beneficial for both child emotional wellbeing and parental anxiety, although it is also possible that lower parental anxiety levels made maintaining a routine easier. Being the child of a keyworker parent during lockdown may have been protective for child emotional wellbeing.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frcha.2023.1114850/fullroutinechild behavioural difficultieschild emotional difficultiesparental anxietyCOVID-19 |
| spellingShingle | Vera Lees Rosie Hay Helen Bould Helen Bould Helen Bould Alex S. F. Kwong Daniel Major-Smith Daniel Major-Smith Daphne Kounali Rebecca M. Pearson Rebecca M. Pearson The impact of routines on emotional and behavioural difficulties in children and on parental anxiety during COVID-19 Frontiers in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry routine child behavioural difficulties child emotional difficulties parental anxiety COVID-19 |
| title | The impact of routines on emotional and behavioural difficulties in children and on parental anxiety during COVID-19 |
| title_full | The impact of routines on emotional and behavioural difficulties in children and on parental anxiety during COVID-19 |
| title_fullStr | The impact of routines on emotional and behavioural difficulties in children and on parental anxiety during COVID-19 |
| title_full_unstemmed | The impact of routines on emotional and behavioural difficulties in children and on parental anxiety during COVID-19 |
| title_short | The impact of routines on emotional and behavioural difficulties in children and on parental anxiety during COVID-19 |
| title_sort | impact of routines on emotional and behavioural difficulties in children and on parental anxiety during covid 19 |
| topic | routine child behavioural difficulties child emotional difficulties parental anxiety COVID-19 |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frcha.2023.1114850/full |
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