Risk Factors of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Development of Preschool Children and Protective Factors

Abstract

The coronavirus epidemic that erupted in Wuhan, China, in 2019, spread rapidly and affected the entire world. The fight against the epidemic has brought about many changes in people's lives and relationships, including preschool children, who are affected by the epidemic process. Preschool is a phase in which development is rapid and environmental factors have a high impact on development that encompasses many critical development phases. In this rapid development phase, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic process on children is revealed by the ongoing daily scientific studies, which discussed protective factors and risk factors with regard to the development of preschoolers during the pandemic process, and was conducted in the form of a compilation within the framework of data collected from the literature. The study assessed the risk factors of preschool children as risk factors for physical motor development, risk factors for social development, risk factors for emotional development, and risk factors for cognitive language development. Factors that can play a protective role in this are defined jointly for all areas of development.