Explore Parent and Physician answers about the emotional, educational, physical, social well-being and development of children during the pandemic.
We asked parents about their children's social, educational, physical and emotional well-being during the pandemic. Explore their answers and the Physician perspective globally.
Social development is the area of well-being parents feel their children have been most impacted by.
Globally, 1 in 3 parents report that their children's social development has suffered during the pandemic (31%).
This is found across all age groups, although the most improvement is seen in children 0-4 (26%) and least in young adults (16%).
Educational progress is the second highest area of well-being that has been negatively impacted during the pandemic.
Globally, 1 in 4 parents believe their children's education has suffered. This follows the trend of there being a greater impact for older children. One in 3 children aged 0-4 have experienced an improvement in their educational progress according to their parents.
Globally, 17% of parents report their children's mental health and emotional well-being to have suffered during the pandemic.
However, almost 1 in 3 of parents interviewed state that their children's mental health improved (30%).
Mental health in younger children has been less negatively impacted, according to their parents (14% suffered). Young adults, however, were the most negatively affected (24%).
Over a third of parents who claim their children's mental health suffered have sought mental health support for their child during the pandemic (35%). French parents have reached out for the most support (52%) whilst German (22%) and British (24%) parents have sought the least support out of the countries interviewed.
Similar to mental health, parents say the physical health has suffered for 15% of their children. Again, young adults aged 18-22 were the most impacted negatively (20%) and children 0-4 impacted negatively the least (11%).
Parents report that younger children have seen more improvement in their physical health during the pandemic, 32% of children aged 0-4 and 29% of children aged 5-13.
Health professionals report the same order of impact around child well-being, but to a greater degree.
Nine out of 10 physicians believe social development, educational progress and the mental health and emotional well-being of children have suffered due to the pandemic.
Just under three quarters of physicians believe the physical health of children has suffered, whilst a quarter think it has stayed the same.
Globally, 13% of parents want life to go back to how it was before the COVID-19 pandemic. However, 6 out of 10 parents we interviewed would like to see the continuation of more quality family time.
Globally, the parents we interviewed have felt most supported by their family (91%). Nearly three quarters (70%) have felt supported by government and educational resources and 69% by their employer in the past 18 months.
However, the least support is felt by government or educational resources for 25% of respondents.
For many parents globally, they feel more confident in their parenting skills now than before the lockdown. A total of 61% report to feeling much or somewhat more confident.
This decreases with the age of their children, with 68% of parents with children aged 0-4 feeling more confident whilst only 50% of parents with young adult children (18-22) feeling more confident.
With social justice movements such as Black Lives Matters and Stop Asian Hate, we asked parents in the US, UK, France, Germany and Brazil how they feel their children have been impacted.
Amongst these five markets, 55% of parents report no impact on their children aged under 22 relating to the increased momentum of social justice movements and visibility of race or ethnicity motivated crimes.
According to their parents, children in the UK have felt the least impact (32%) and Brazil the most (43%).
Almost half of Brazilian parents report a positive impact on their children (46%).
In contrast, 17% of parents in the US report a negative impact on their children - the highest seen among these markets.
Increasing societal support of non-binary gender and LGBTQ+ identity has had less of an impact on children globally, with 59% parents reporting there has been no impact on their children.
This follows the same trend as race/ ethnicity, with children in the UK feeling least impacted (30%) and Brazil the most (49%).
For parents who report these social justice developments to have had an impact on their children, there are a multitude of positives and negatives across race, gender and sexuality.
There was a prominent theme of open communication and access to information to build understanding and awareness and generally help their children feel part of an increasingly inclusive society.
However, there were also concerns around exposure causing confusion, notably in younger children, and a fear for their safety in the realities of the world and specific events.
Read what parents had to say...
Inclusion, understanding and awareness
“Increased awareness of differences and sameness of others. Chance to engage and open discussion.”
“My child has become more caring, understanding, and kind to people regardless of race or gender.”
“She has become far more aware of issues and injustices in society and this has had an impact on the way she thinks and will vote in future.”
“My son is being raise by two mums; it's great for him to see women being empowered in the media.”
“They've taught my children to stand up for injustices they see happening around them.”
“She feels more free to espouse her thoughts and values now that so many others have laid the groundwork.”
“My child is considering transitioning gender so the more positive societal attitude has helped them to feel more accepted.”
“My Trans son came out a little over a year ago, so knowing there are many people out there going through similar problems and situations has helped him to be more open about how he feels, what he wants, and how he wants his life to more self aware and knowledgeable of the world around.”
Confusion and fear
“More scared of saying something in case it offends.”
“At an age when they should just enjoy being children, they are already confused and asking questions. Whilst we embrace the cultural change, at 6 and 4 they should not be worrying about genders etc.”
“My children are confused! And scared! The movement’s were supposed to create a positive impact and all they created was hate and violence. The gender binary presences has created confusion, how do you explain to a 5 and 8 year old?”
“They do not know what to believe.”
“My children are biracial and recent events regarding police and black people have made them fearful.”
“My child seems to be more angry all the time. Like it is her responsibility to right all the wrongs in the world.”
“They are more focused on everyone's separateness instead of shared humanity.”
“My 9-year-old came to me and asked me if she was bad because she was white which ticked me off.”
“Stop Asian hate was a major challenge for us. It made us scared to leave the house and we now try to limit our time outside.”
