The Covid pandemic and months of lockdown may have inflicted long–term harm on children’s brain development, a new study warns.
The research, led by the University of East Anglia, found that the pandemic hampered children’s ability to regulate their behaviour, stay focused and adapt to new situations – skills known collectively as executive functions.
The greatest impact was seen among pupils in reception, aged four to five, when the first lockdowns began in March 2020.
This age bracket is a crucial stage when children normally learn to socialise, follow routines and navigate the busy world of the classroom, but millions of youngsters were forced to stay home and be taught either online, or by their parents.
The children in this cohort are now around 10 to 11 years old, in their final year of primary school.
The research, published in the journal Child Development, found these children showed less growth in their self-regulatory and cognitive flexibility scores over time compared to a second group of children who were in preschool when the pandemic started.
The researchers from the University of East Anglia, Lancaster University and Durham University say these children may still be feeling the effects years later.
Scientists were already running a long-term study tracking youngsters from toddlerhood to early school years when the Covid pandemic hit.
The study followed 139 children aged between two-and-a-half and six-and-a-half years old over several years, including 94 families who joined the study before Covid struck.
This meant that they had a baseline of children’s abilities before the pandemic began, which allowed them to track exactly how development changed during and after the lockdowns.
Using a standardised assessment called the Minnesota Executive Function Scale, they were able to measure the same cognitive skills at regular intervals.
Lead researcher Prof John Spencer, from UEA’s School of Psychology, said: ‘Children who were in reception when the country shut down showed much slower growth in key self-regulation and cognitive flexibility skills over the next few years than children who were still in preschool.
‘Reception is a critical year for peer socialisation. It’s when children learn classroom norms and build early friendships that shape their confidence.’
For the cohort who started school in 2020, classrooms were closed, routines collapsed overnight and opportunities for social interaction were severely limited.
‘Without these experiences, children’s self-regulatory skills didn’t develop as quickly year-on-year after the lockdowns ended,’ he said.
Many in this cohort also caught Covid more frequently, raising the possibility that periods of illness worsened the issue.
‘Our findings suggest that peer socialisation and the new self–regulatory skills children must master in reception might be particularly critical for the development of executive function skills.
‘Without these experiences, reception children had a challenging time developing self–regulation and cognitive flexibility in the years that followed the pandemic.’
The researchers say their work highlights a generation of children who may need more support from teachers, schools and health services in the coming years.
The findings also raise questions about how to protect children’s development in future national emergencies.
According to a 2023 report by Speech and Language UK, the average child missed 84 school days due to Covid.
In 2023, it was reported that eight in ten teachers said that ‘pupil inattention’ had worsened since the pandemic, complaining about the noticeable rise in ‘needless chatter, shouting and laughing inappropriately’.
Knock-on effects of the pandemic have been blamed, with teachers claiming kids are behind on social skills after spending months learning through screens.
Many teachers also believe the ‘ever–swiping nature’ of social media sites like TikTok has exacerbated the issue.
Previous research has suggested that teenage girls’ brains may have prematurely aged by up to four years during the Covid pandemic.
Adolescent boys weren’t immune either, with their brains also showing signs of undue wear and tear, albeit by only one-and-a-half years.
Experts suggested the difference was due to the lockdown’s social restrictions having a disproportionate impact on teenage girls.
Researchers from the University of Washington looked at 160 MRI scans taken from a cohort of 9-to-17-year-olds collected in 2018, and then compared these to scans to 130 taken post-pandemic, 2021-2022.
They found a process called cortical thinning – where the organ effectively rewires itself between childhood and adolescence – was far more advanced than it should be amongst pandemic teens.
Whilst cortical thinning does occur naturally, some studies have linked accelerated thinning to being exposed to anxiety or stress and a greater risk of developing these disorders in life.
It’s not yet clear if the observed advanced thinning is permanent or if it will have any negative impact on teenagers’ long-term health or educational aspirations.
