CoronaCrime #97 - Families in the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a terrible toll on lives, illness, and economic devastation and it is having diverse effects on violence and crime. Daily Prevention News publishes weekly a Corona Crime Issue dedicated to collecting related news and information.

1. How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected children’s mental health?
   The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a year and a half fraught with unpredictability and change. Change and unpredictability can be stressful for anyone, but for children, change and disruption of routine is especially stressful. Source: Oxford University Press Blog
2. School readiness losses during the COVID-19 outbreak. A comparison of two cohorts of young children
   The COVID-19 context has created the most severe disruption to education systems in recent history. Its impact on child development was estimated comparing two cohorts of 4- to 6-year-old Uruguayan children: control and COVID cohort assessed between 2018 and 2020 in three waves, by a routinely administered school readiness instrument in public preschools. Source: Society for Research in Child Development
3. Does marriage protect mental health? Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic
   Using weekly variation from April 23 to June 23 2020, we exploit the surge in unemployment over the coronavirus pandemic to identify the effects on mental health outcomes and the role of marital status as a protective factor for households. We find that married respondents are 1–2 percentage points less likely, relative to their unmarried counterparts, to experience mental health problems following declines in work-related income since the start of the pandemic. Our results suggest that the combination of intrafamily substitution and the psychological benefits of marriage helps insure against unanticipated fluctuations in job and income loss. Source: Social Science Quarterly
4. COVID: how anti-vaccine influencers exploit mothers
   Opposition to vaccination has existed for as long as vaccination itself. Ever since widespread smallpox vaccination began in the early 1800s, there have been cycles of questioning the safety and efficacy of particular vaccines. The media has played a primary role in publicising these views, and social media has significantly increased the reach of the anti-vaccine movement in recent years. New research has found that these influencers often strategically target mothers on social media to build support for their cause. Source: Information, Communication & Society
5. Family vulnerability and disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic: prospective pathways to child maladjustment
   This study evaluated two risk pathways that may account for increases in child internalizing and externalizing problems during the COVID-19 pandemic: one pathway operating through pre-existing family vulnerability and a second pathway operating through disruption in family functioning occurring in response to the pandemic. Source: The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
6. Global, regional, and national minimum estimates of children affected by COVID-19-associated orphanhood and caregiver death
   In the 6 months following our estimates from March 1, 2020, to April 30, 2021, the proliferation of new coronavirus variants, updated mortality data, and disparities in vaccine access increased the amount of children experiencing COVID-19-associated orphanhood. To inform responses, we aimed to model the increases in numbers of children affected by COVID-19-associated orphanhood and caregiver death, as well as the cumulative orphanhood age-group distribution and circumstance (maternal or paternal orphanhood). Source: The Lancet