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Cited by 119COVID-19 and Mental HealthChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentSocial impacts of COVID-19

Consequences of COVID-19 Confinement on Anxiety, Sleep and Executive Functions of Children and Adolescents in Spain

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Lavigne-Cerván, Rocío, Costa-López, Borja, Juárez-Ruiz de Mier, Rocío, Real-Fernández, Marta, Sánchez-Muñoz de León, Marta, Navarro-Soria, Ignasi·2021·Frontiers in Psychology
DOI 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.565516PMC PMC7921483
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Abstract

Children and adolescents are not indifferent to the dramatic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the need to be forced to live in confinement. The change in life to which they have been abruptly subjected forces us to understand the state of their mental health in order to adequately address both their present and future needs. The present study was carried out with the intention of studying the consequences of confinement on anxiety, sleep routines and executive functioning of 1,028 children and adolescents, aged from 6 to 18 years, residing in Spain to; assess if there are differences regarding these consequences in terms of sex and age; how anxiety affects executive functioning in males and females; and to examine the possible correlations between the measured variables. For this purpose, an online questionnaire containing five sections was designed: the first section gathers information on sociodemographic and health data, while the following sections gather information from different standardized scales which measure anxiety, sleep and executive functions, whose items were adapted in order to be completed by parents, and/or legal guardians. The statistical analyzes carried out highlights significant differences in executive functioning between males and females. In turn, in regards to age, greater difficulties were detected in anxiety in the 9 to 12 age group and greater sleep disturbances between 13 and 18 year olds. On the other hand, significant differences were found in intra-sexual executive functioning depending on whether they presented greater or lesser anxiety, with executive functioning being more tendentiously maladjusted in males than in females, revealing a significantly relevant effect size ( p = 0.001; ω 2 = 0.27 BRIEF-2; ω 2 = 0.19 BDEFS-CA; 95%). Positive correlations are obtained between state anxiety and sleep and executive functioning alterations. Finally, through Path Analysis, it is verified that state anxiety is the variable with the greatest weight within the model that would explain the alteration in the executive functioning of the present sample.

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Authors
Lavigne-Cerván, R., Costa-López, B., Juárez-Ruiz de Mier, R., Real-Fernández, M., Sánchez-Muñoz de León, M., & Navarro-Soria, I.
Affiliations
  • Universidad de Málaga (ES)
  • University of Alicante (ES)
ORCID
Venue
Frontiers in Psychology
Publisher
Frontiers Media SA
Published
2021-02-16
Volume
12
Pages
565516-565516
ISSN
1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3389/fpsyg.2021.565516
PMC
PMC7921483
OpenAlex
W3131257505
Cited by
119
References
15
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 31 · 2022: 37 · 2021: 19
FWCI
17.39
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Frontiers in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Alicante (Universidad de Alicante) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Málaga (University of Málaga) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Social impacts of COVID-19
Keywords
COVID-19 lockdown, children and adolescents, anxiety, sleep disorders, executive function, sex differences, age differences, child mental health, state anxiety

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