A Year of Pandemic: Psychological Effects in Spanish Children from 3 to 11 Years of Age

Background: After the lockdown, schools adopted measures to avoid infection, which changed pre-pandemic routines. We evaluated whether the new school conditions constituted a stress factor for children or contributed to their recovery after the impact of the lockdown period.

Method: Participants included 291 families with children between 3 and 11 years of age. The children were assessed by parents through the Child and Adolescent Assessment System (SENA) at three time points: T1 (before COVID-19 confinement), T2 (after the children had spent between 4 and 6 weeks confined), and T3 (one year after the beginning of the pandemic).

Results: For Preschoolers, no statistical differences were found in any scale or time point. For primary-school children, the differences between T1 and T3 were not significant. Comparisons between T2 and T3 showed significant differences in Willingness to study, Emotional regulation and Hyperactivity and impulsivity.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that returning to school might have improved some dimensions of primary-school children’s well-being. However, it seems that neither the confinement nor the restrictive measures have had a negative effect on our sample. To interpret these findings, we discuss the psychological factors of protection and vulnerability.