Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms in Children and Adolescents during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Transcultural Approach
Overview
This paper reviews a transcultural research study examining anxiety and depressive symptoms in children and adolescents across Italy, Spain, and Portugal during COVID-19 lockdowns. The study identifies significant variations in mental health outcomes between countries, with Spanish children showing higher anxiety and depression scores than their Italian and Portuguese counterparts. The findings highlight the relationship between parental COVID-19 stress and childhood mental health outcomes.
What this literature review covers
- Researcher identification and institutional affiliations from three European universities
- Participant selection criteria and demographic characteristics across three countries (515 children, mean age 8.98 years)
- Methodology including online data collection via social media and Google Forms over 15 days
- Main findings using SCAS-P-8 and SMFQ-P instruments showing country-based variations in anxiety and depression
- Implications for understanding childhood mental health during pandemic periods
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Article Review
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Article name; Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms in Children and Adolescents during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Transcultural Approach
Who are the researchers?
The researchers include Mireia Orgilés, Alexandra Morales, José Pedro Espada from Universidad Miguel Hernández, Elisa Delvecchio, Claudia Mazzeschi from Università degli Studi di Perugia, Marta Pedro, and Rita Francisco from Universidade Católica Portuguesa. The authors are professionals in conducting field research especially in healthcare field.
Who are the participants?
The participants used were segment into three criteria in the achievement of the research objective; the parents whose children are aged between 3 and 18 years, residing with their parents at home due to COVID19 restrictions, and either residing in Italy, Spain, or Portugal. The participants who have passed the above criteria and were involved in the study were 515. The children were selected from 94 cities of Portugal, 87 cities of Spain, and 94 cities of Italy. The children's mean age was 8.98 years, while the parent's mean age was 42 years, with 46 of the children being girls. The sample group variants were in terms of age groups, sex, and parental COVID19 status.
What did researchers and participants do?
To fulfill the study's objective, the researchers collected the data from the participants for 15 days. However, due to the strictness of COVID19 measures to prevent the spread of the virus, face-to-face interaction was impossible; thus, the research was conducted through social media networks such as Twitter, Facebook to mention a few.