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Influence on Cognitive Skill Development in 5 to 10 Years Old Children due to COVID-19 Lockdown

Authors:
  • SMBT Dental College and Hospital, Sangamner, Maharashtra, India.

Abstract

Introduction: Under the circumstances created during lockdown period, children were deprived from the social interaction and companionship; because of which, they were susceptible to hampered cognitive development. Therefore, in this study, efforts were made to understand the impact of lockdown on the cognitive development of 5-10 year old children in India. Material and methods: A self-administered online questionnaire was distributed to the parents via social media platforms. This questionnaire included 20 questions divided into categories such as attention, passivity, organizing, perception of space and directions, concept of time, perception of visual forms and figures, memory, comprehension of spoken language, verbal communication, reading-writing-arithmetic, and emotional problems. Responses were automatically recorded in the Google forms. Results: A total of 151 participants had successfully filled out the online survey. Findings from this study revealed that 45.9% children had impact on attention/concentration, 49% children had become Inactive, 42% had impact on memory, 46.9% on reading, writing and arithmetic skills and 58% children experienced emotional problems as a result of lockdown. Conclusions: COVID 19 lockdown has affected most of the aspects of cognitive development in the children. But major effects were seen on attention / concentration, inactivity, memory, reading, writing, arithmetic and emotional problem sections.
International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)
ISSN: 2319-7064
SJIF (2022): 7.942
Volume 11 Issue 6, June 2022
www.ijsr.net
Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY
Influence on Cognitive Skill Development in 5 to
10 Years Old Children due to COVID-19
Lockdown
Prachi Mulay1, Vinaya Kumar Kulkarni2
1Post Graduate Student, Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, S. M. B. T. Dental College and Hospital and Post Graduate
Research Center, Ghulewadi, Sangamner, Maharashtra. (India) 9 (Corresponding Author)
2MDS, Professor and HOD, Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, SMBT Dental College and Hospital and Post Graduate
Research Center, Ghulewadi, Sangamner Maharashtra. (India)
Email: prachimulay2511[at]gmail.com
Cell No: +91 9766670109
Abstract: Introduction: Under the circumstances created during lockdown period, children were deprived from the social interaction
and companionship; because of which, they were susceptible to hampered cognitive development. Therefore, in this study, efforts were
made to understand the impact of lockdown on the cognitive development of 5-10 year old children in India. Material and methods: A
self-administered online questionnaire was distributed to the parents via social media platforms. This questionnaire included 20
questions divided into categories such as attention, passivity, organizing, perception of space and directions, concept of time, perception
of visual forms and figures, memory, comprehension of spoken language, verbal communication, reading-writing-arithmetic, and
emotional problems. Responses were automatically recorded in the Google forms. Results: A total of 151 participants had successfully
filled out the online survey. Findings from this study revealed that 45.9% children had impact on attention/concentration, 49% children
had become Inactive, 42% had impact on memory, 46.9% on reading, writing and arithmetic skills and 58% children experienced
emotional problems as a result of lockdown. Conclusions: COVID 19 lockdown has affected most of the aspects of cognitive
development in the children. But major effects were seen on attention / concentration, inactivity, memory, reading, writing, arithmetic
and emotional problem sections.
Keywords: Children, Cognitive development, COVID-19, Lockdown, Social isolation
1. Introduction
The World Health Organization (2020) declared the novel
corona virus COVID‑19 as a global pandemic, and it has
been a source of distress and uncertainty among people all
over the world. The impact of COVID‑19 has affected
various aspects of human life. According to statistics, the
mortality rate was 1% 2.1% in the beginning, and the
global casefatality ratio grew to 6.2% subsequently. 1 This
created panic among people. The nature of psychological
impact due to COVID 19 pandemic is determined by a
number of elements. Adjusting to “new normal” has been
difficult and a source of stress. 2 Children's behaviour and
cognitive development changed significantly as a result of
the crisis. Isolation, school closure, reduced social life and
physical activities, changes in routine, sleep difficulties,
exposure to disharmony at home; excessive screen use,
unhealthy diet, and other factors all have an impact on the
physical and mental health of children and adolescents
experiencing the stress of a pandemic. 3
It is crucial to pay attention to changes in children's
psychological behaviour during the pandemic. Previous
research has revealed that the family and social environment
has a significant impact on children's psychological
behaviour. 4
Young children are missing out on learning by doing, peer-
to-peer learning, and developing critical cognitive skills due
to lack of social interaction as an impact of COVID-19. The
learning and thinking process developed in the early years of
life defines the capabilities and prowess to absorb and learn
complex subjects later. The emotional and physical health,
social skills, and cognitive-linguistic capacities that emerge
in the early years are all important prerequisites for
academic success and later success in the workplace and
community. There is very little literature on the impact of
COVID-19 lockdown on a child's cognitive development.
As a result, the current study was carried out to assess this
impact.
2. Material and Methods
This cross-sectional study used a self-administered online
questionnaire that was distributed across India via social
media platforms (e. g., Whats-app and mail). The Google
forms platform was used to create, design, and distribute the
questionnaire. This questionnaire included 20 questions
divided into categories such as attention/concentration,
passivity/inactivity, planning/organizing, perception of space
and directions, concept of time, perception of visual forms
and figures, memory, comprehension of spoken language,
verbal communication, reading-writing-arithmetic, and
emotional problems. Participants were encouraged to
complete the form and help distribute the questionnaire
among their family members, friends, and relatives. Thus,
participants were selected by a snow ball sampling
technique. Furthermore, to avoid duplicated or exaggerated
data, participants were limited to single response.
Participants included those who are currently living in India,
Paper ID: SR22606153343
DOI: 10.21275/SR22606153343
885
International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)
ISSN: 2319-7064
SJIF (2022): 7.942
Volume 11 Issue 6, June 2022
www.ijsr.net
Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY
have children aged 5 to 10 years, and who had successfully
completed the questionnaire. Online surveys were the most
appropriate method for data collection during the period of
self-isolation and home quarantine.
3. Results
A total of 151 participants, residing in different parts of
India had successfully filled out the online survey. When
asked about their child's attention and concentration, 45.9%
of parents reported that their child is easily distracted by
vehicles passing by (Fig.1), whereas only 13.7% of parents
reported that their child forgets to do his daily activities as a
result of lockdown.
In the section for passivity or inactivity, 40.8% of parents
observed that their child is frequently lost while doing any
task (i. e. day-dreaming), and 49% of parents observed that
their child has become slow, inert, or lacks energy while
doing his everyday activities (Fig.2). So, in general, kids
have become more inactive during this lockdown.
When asked about their child's understanding of time, 80.7%
of parents said that their child can read the clock
mechanically and understands the concept of actual time, but
37.7% of kids had no idea about what time it is, whether it is
morning or afternoon, or whether it is his / her online school
time.
When asked about planning or organisation, only 18.4% of
parents reported that their children required constant
reminders to complete the homework. In terms of perception
of space and directions, only 7.5% of parents reported that
their child had difficulty catching a ball thrown at him. And
only 9.5% of children faced difficulty noticing small
differences in shapes, figures, words, and patterns that look
alike (e. g. letters like-b, p, d or digits like 6, 9). So there is
not much effect seen in these sections.
In the memory section, 42.2% of parents reported that their
child faced difficulty in remembering the names of
weekdays, months and seasons (Fig.3). However, only
12.9% of children were having difficulty in learning rhymes,
songs, multiplication tables etc. by heart and only 15.6%
children had difficulty in remembering multiple instructions
at a time during this lockdown.
When asked questions about comprehension of spoken
language, only 12.2% of children faced difficulty in
understanding what other people say (i. e. often says what?
What do you mean?). Only 8.2% of children faced difficulty
in understanding abstract concepts like day after tomorrow,
etc. So again these results are not much significant. But
when asked about verbal communication, parents noticed
that 36.3% of kids faced difficulty in taking part in a
conversation as an effect of lockdown.
On the questions regarding reading, writing and arithmetic,
46.9% of children had difficulty in shaping letters or writing
neatly (Fig.4) while, only 15.1% of kids faced difficulty in
reading aloud at a normal speed, and 13% of kids had
difficulty in doing basic mathematics skills like
addition/subtraction.
And lastly, when asked about emotional problems a child
faced during this lockdown, a highly significant result was
observed, 58.2% of parents reported that their child seem to
be unhappy, sad or depressed (Fig.5) while only 9.7% of
parents said that their child often complained about
bellyaches, headaches, breathing difficulties or other bodily
symptoms.
4. Discussion
In this study, we shed light on impact on children’s
cognitive development during COVID-19 with home school
and social isolation. The important question which arises of;
why these early years are important. According to research,
the brain is highly 'plastic' in the early years of life, but it
becomes less and less adaptive to reorganisation or adapting
to sudden and new challenges as we grow older. The quality
of one's early experiences leads to the format of the central
foundation for all of the learning, health and behaviour that
follows in life. There are various stages of sensory and
cognitive development as explained by Jean Piaget, the
sensorimotor stage (up to 2 years), preoperational stage (2-6
years), concrete operational stage (6-11 years) and formal
operational stage (11+ years). In the first 2 stages, more than
1 million new neural connections are formed every second
within a human brain. It reduces drastically post these stages
as the brain prunes itself to make the circuits more efficient.
The first sensory pathways to develop are those for basic
vision and hearing, followed by early language skills and
higher cognitive functions. Later, more complex brain
circuits are built upon earlier, simpler circuits, and
connections proliferate and prune in a prescribed order. The
emotional and physical health, social skills, and cognitive-
linguistic capacities that emerge in the early years are all
important prerequisites for academic success and later,
success in the workplace and community.
Globally, the pre-lockdown learning of children
predominantly involved one-to-one interaction with their
mentors and peer groups. Unfortunately, the nationwide
closures of schools and colleges have negatively impacted
over 91% of the total student population. 5 The home
confinement of children is associated with uncertainty and
anxiety which is attributable to disruption in their education,
physical activities and opportunities for socialization. 6For
long periods of time, the absence of a structured school
setting causes disruption in routine, boredom, and a lack of
innovative ideas for engaging in various academic and
extracurricular activities. Some children have expressed
lower levels of effect for not being able to play outdoors, not
meeting friends and not engaging in the in-person school
activities.5, 7, 8Because of the long-term change in their
routine, these children have become more clingy, attention-
seeking, and reliant on their parents. It is expected that
children will resist returning to school once the lockdown is
lifted, and that they will have difficulty re-establishing
contact with their mentors once the schools reopen.
Consequently, the constraint of movement imposed on them
can have a long term negative effect on their overall
psychological well-being.5
Viner et al.9 carried out a rapid systematic review of 16
papers during the pandemic and concluded that school
Paper ID: SR22606153343
DOI: 10.21275/SR22606153343
886
International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)
ISSN: 2319-7064
SJIF (2022): 7.942
Volume 11 Issue 6, June 2022
www.ijsr.net
Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY
closures and social disconnection could hamper the
psychological and personal development of children.
Similarly in this study, nearly 58.2% of parents reported that
their child suffered from emotional problems (i.e. seem to be
unhappy, sad or depressed). COVID-19 has been linked to
stress in both younger and older children. This is due to a
lack of social interaction, a family financial crisis, and
cramped living conditions. Several studies have pointed out
the risk of development of symptoms of PTSD, anxiety, and
phobic reaction due to the excess of information available on
social media.10
It is demonstrated that, for both parents and children, sleep
routines and the balance of daily activities are usually
altered during social isolation. In this situation, sleep quality
and duration may be irregular, physical and outdoor
activities are significantly reduced, and the use of electronic
devices such as televisions, cell phones, and tablets (screen
time) increases.11 These changes prevent child development
from reaching its full potential and mainly impairs the
cognitive development of children.12
The child’s frequency of TV watching was found to be
significantly associated with delayed motor skills, cognitive
and language development. The content of TV has a
detrimental effect on cognitive development.13, 14 Similar
effects were observed in this study.42.2% of children
showed negative impact on memory, 36.3% kids showed
negative impact on verbal communication, 46.9% kids
showed negative impact on reading, writing and arithmetic,
while 37.7% of children showed negative impact on
understanding the concept of time. Minimal impact was seen
on planning and organising, perception of space and
direction, and perception of visual forms and figures. A
Japanese study observed that children aged 30 months, had
increased chances of being inattentive due to excessive TV-
viewing.15 In this study also, around 49 % of parents
reported that their child had become inactive during this
lockdown. Augmented digital media usage leads to reduced
sleep, which in turn leads to increased TV exposure that
seems to have a wider impact on the sleep quality.16 Children
try to mimic their parental screen time behaviors17, 18 and/or
the programs they watch on screens.
Furthermore, when children spend time on screens
(especially at night) they are exposed to the blue light, which
has been shown to delay sleep onset and reduce sleep
quality.19 It has been found that greater time spent playing
maturated video games was associated with greater somatic
complaints, aggressive behaviour, and reduced sleep
duration.
The consequences of exposing children to screen time of >
60 min is that they are at a higher risk of developing
negative effects on temper, character, and vulnerability to
inattention and ADHD (Attention deficiet hyperactivity
syndrome) symptoms.20 Similarly in this study, nearly
45.9% of children reported lack of attention and
concentration. Previous research has established a link
between emotional well-being and screen time. Twenge and
Campbell21, in a population based study, showed that high
screen time was associated with lower wellbeing, with the
high screen users having twice as many individuals who
suffered from anxiety or depression diagnosis. This might
also be the reason for increase in emotional problems of
children during this lockdown.
Garrison et al.22 showed that children who viewed television
at night were more likely to sleep restlessly. Restless sleep
was attributed to the brightly lit screens that interrupted
melatonin production.
The exposure of indiscriminate media content, especially if
unsupervised, might hamper a child’s behavioural outcomes.
Furthermore, keeping children in one position for more than
one hour has negative health consequences. However, it is
reported that not all digital media is bad, as a child’s level of
physical activity, skill development, gain in knowledge,
early learning, cognitive and functional development
improved with specific contingent videos.23
Since schools were closed due to pandemic, certain things
could be done to stimulate the cognitive development of a
child at home. Providing cognitive stimuli early on with the
use of board games, engaging them in meaningful
conversations, puzzles, etc. These could be great ways of
introducing order, organisation and skills in kids. While
reading a book, encourage critical thinking by asking
questions like, "What do you think will happen next?" or
"What do you think the author is attempting to convey to
us?" Encouraging children to solve simple problems helps to
improve their cognitive understanding and problem-solving
approach. If you see your child struggling with a problem,
instead of providing a direct solution, lead them with
guiding questions. Assist the child in adjusting to new
concerts, definitions, and learning methods. Allow your
children to form their own opinions and hypotheses by
giving them the opportunity to do so.
5. Conclusions
COVID 19 lockdown has affected all the aspects of
cognitive development in most of the children. The major
effects seen were on attention / concentration, inactivity,
memory, reading, writing, arithmetic and emotional problem
sections. As pediatric dentists, we can suggest the parents to
carry out certain activities to stimulate the cognitive
development of a child at home.
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887
International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)
ISSN: 2319-7064
SJIF (2022): 7.942
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Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY
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Figure Legends:
1) Effect on Attention / Concentrationof children due to
lockdown.
2) Effect on Passivity / Inactivity of children due to
lockdown.
3) Effect on Memoryof childrendue to lockdown.
4) Effect on Reading, Writing and Arithmetic skills of
childrendue to lockdown.
5) Effect on Emotional Problems faced by childrendue to
lockdown.
Figure 1: Effect onAttention / Concentration of children due to lockdown
Paper ID: SR22606153343
DOI: 10.21275/SR22606153343
888
International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)
ISSN: 2319-7064
SJIF (2022): 7.942
Volume 11 Issue 6, June 2022
www.ijsr.net
Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY
Figure 2: Effect on Passivity / Inactivity of children due to lockdown
Figure 3: Effect on Memory of children due to lockdown
Figure 4: Effect on Reading, Writing and Arithmetic skills of children due to lockdown
Paper ID: SR22606153343
DOI: 10.21275/SR22606153343
889
International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)
ISSN: 2319-7064
SJIF (2022): 7.942
Volume 11 Issue 6, June 2022
www.ijsr.net
Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY
Figure 5: Effect on Emotional Problems faced by children due to lockdown
Author Profile
Dr. Prachi Shriniwas Mulay, Post-graduate student from
Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, at
SMBT Dental College and Hospital, Sangamner
(Maharashtra). Presented 3 papers and posters in various
national conferences. Has won “Best Poster Presentation
Award” at 41st ISPPD National Conference, Greater Noida.
(7th-9th November, 2019) and “Best Paper Presentation
Award” at 42nd ISPPD National Virtual Conference,
Bhuwaneshwar.
Dr. Vinaya Kumar Kulkarni, Professor and HOD in the
Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, at
SMBT Dental College and Hospital, Sangamner
(Maharashtra). Has won Outstanding contribution in
reviewing for Journal of ISPPD in the year 2017. Presented
12 papers in various national conferences and delivered 10
guest lectures. Chaired 12 scientific sessions in various
national conferences.
Paper ID: SR22606153343
DOI: 10.21275/SR22606153343
890
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