Side-Effects of COVID Lockdowns on Kids
If we are to avoid making the same mistake twice, we must first acknowledge that it was a mistake and understand why it was a mistake. In looking at the COVID lockdowns, we must recognize and confess that shutting down society affected children in potentially long-lasting ways. In this study, researchers pinpointed a particular social cognitive function that was significantly impacted by the lockdowns. They measured young children’s ability to recognize that “other people may believe something wrong” was impaired.
As children develop through infancy, early years, and beyond into adults, a wide and complex variety of social skills must manifest in interrelated ways if they are to enjoy the benefits of social interaction. These sorts of skills are hard to define when they’re working properly- but obvious when something is significantly off. Studying these skills can be challenging as they are also so interdependent.
One social cognition skill that scientists have teased out and found ways to measure is called false-belief understanding. At first this may sound vague and overly intellectualized, but with a brief explanation, it should make sense. That simple explanation can come from describing the study’s experiment done to measure this skill in children.
In the study, children watched a puppet put a toy in one container in a room. That puppet left the stage while another puppet moved the toy into a different container. When the first puppet returned, the child was asked which container the puppet would choose to look for the toy. With intact false-belief understanding the child would say that the puppet would look in the original container, as they could distinguish that the puppet would not have the same knowledge as the they had, having not seen the switch. Without that skill, the child would expect the puppet to look in the other container, believing the puppet had the same awareness & knowledge as they themselves had.
As children develop social skills prior to age 5 years, they need a layering of these skills to prepare for future development. A delay in the process can therefore lead to downstream problems as necessary groundwork becomes misaligned. For children measured after COVID lockdowns compared to those measured pre-lockdown (in similar age ranges), researches found approximately a 2 year difference (in post-lockdown cases) from what is normally expected for this skill.
For parents, teachers, and anyone else caring for children, we know that social skills suffered from the lockdowns. Societal fragmentation is accelerating. School performance is declining. Mental health of children and adults is deteriorating. This study supports what our eyes of experience already tell us. The lockdowns hurt us and our children. Let’s acknowledge the mistake and not repeat it. To restore healthier, more abundant lives for our families, communities, and society, we must admit the facts and resist any future attempts to lockdown us and our children.
Original Article:
Rose M. Scott, Gabriel Nguyentran, James Z. Sullivan. The COVID-19 pandemic and social cognitive outcomes in early childhood. Scientific Reports, 2024; 14 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-80532-w
Thanks to Science Daily:
University of California – Merced. “COVID lockdowns disrupted a crucial social skill among preschoolers, trailblazing study finds.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 29 January 2025. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/01/250129194557.htm>.
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
