COVID-19, school closures, and child poverty: a social crisis in the making.
About: This article is published in The Lancet. Public health.The article was published on 2020-05-01 and is currently open access. It has received 888 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Child poverty & Poverty.
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TL;DR: The reciprocal impacts of the COVID-19 crisis and digital inequalities are explored, and a set of multi-layered strategies focusing on actionability that can be implemented at multiple structural levels, ranging from governmental to corporate and community levels are proposed.
593 citations
TL;DR: This review seems to pick good targets to prioritize mitigation actions aiming to spare children not only from the severe cases of COVID-19 but also to help them to deal with the mental health burden of the pandemics.
Abstract: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) affected virtually all countries. Uncertain about the health risk and an increasing financial loss will contribute to widespread emotional distress and an increased risk of psychiatric disorders shortly. Posttraumatic, anxiety, and depression disorders are expected during and aftermath of the pandemic. Some groups, like children, have more susceptibility to having long term consequences in mental health. Herein, we made a comprehensive and non-systematic search in four databases (PubMed, Scopus, SciELO, and Google Scholars) to answer the question: What are children's and adolescents' mental health effects of the pandemic? Furthermore, which features are essential for mental health in a pandemic? Results: Seventy-seven articles were selected for full text read, and 51 were included. Children answer stress differently, depending on the development stage. High rates of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic symptoms were identified among children. Discussion: Symptoms were as expected. New supportive strategies have appeared during this pandemic, but there is no measure of its effectiveness. Some groups seem to be more vulnerable to the mental health burden of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the mitigation actions should prioritize them. The school's role appears to be revalued by society. This review seems to pick good targets to prioritize mitigation actions aiming to spare children not only from the severe cases of COVID-19 but also to help them to deal with the mental health burden of the pandemics.
425 citations
TL;DR: Essential workers have a higher risk of severe COVID-19, and the need for national and organisational policies and practices that protect and support workers with an elevated risk is underscored.
Abstract: Objectives To investigate severe COVID-19 risk by occupational group. Methods Baseline UK Biobank data (2006–10) for England were linked to SARS-CoV-2 test results from Public Health England (16 March to 26 July 2020). Included participants were employed or self-employed at baseline, alive and aged Results Of 120 075 participants, 271 had severe COVID-19. Relative to non-essential workers, healthcare workers (RR 7.43, 95% CI 5.52 to 10.00), social and education workers (RR 1.84, 95% CI 1.21 to 2.82) and other essential workers (RR 1.60, 95% CI 1.05 to 2.45) had a higher risk of severe COVID-19. Using more detailed groupings, medical support staff (RR 8.70, 95% CI 4.87 to 15.55), social care (RR 2.46, 95% CI 1.47 to 4.14) and transport workers (RR 2.20, 95% CI 1.21 to 4.00) had the highest risk within the broader groups. Compared with white non-essential workers, non-white non-essential workers had a higher risk (RR 3.27, 95% CI 1.90 to 5.62) and non-white essential workers had the highest risk (RR 8.34, 95% CI 5.17 to 13.47). Using SOC 2000 major groups, associate professional and technical occupations, personal service occupations and plant and machine operatives had a higher risk, compared with managers and senior officials. Conclusions Essential workers have a higher risk of severe COVID-19. These findings underscore the need for national and organisational policies and practices that protect and support workers with an elevated risk of severe COVID-19.
360 citations
University of Colorado Boulder1, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill2, University of Notre Dame3, University of South Florida4, Columbia University5, University of California, Irvine6, Rutgers University7, Stony Brook University8, University of Pittsburgh9, Yale University10, University of Oregon11, University of California, Berkeley12, Boston University13, Vanderbilt University14, University of Miami15, University of Minnesota16, Fordham University17, Harvard University18, Cornell University19, University of Michigan20, University of Central Florida21, University of California, Los Angeles22, University of Virginia23, Brown University24
TL;DR: COVID-19 is conceptualized as a unique, compounding, multidimensional stressor that will create a vast need for intervention and necessitate new paradigms for mental health service delivery and training.
Abstract: COVID-19 presents significant social, economic, and medical challenges. Because COVID-19 has already begun to precipitate huge increases in mental health problems, clinical psychological science must assert a leadership role in guiding a national response to this secondary crisis. In this article, COVID-19 is conceptualized as a unique, compounding, multidimensional stressor that will create a vast need for intervention and necessitate new paradigms for mental health service delivery and training. Urgent challenge areas across developmental periods are discussed, followed by a review of psychological symptoms that likely will increase in prevalence and require innovative solutions in both science and practice. Implications for new research directions, clinical approaches, and policy issues are discussed to highlight the opportunities for clinical psychological science to emerge as an updated, contemporary field capable of addressing the burden of mental illness and distress in the wake of COVID-19 and beyond. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
359 citations
Cites background from "COVID-19, school closures, and chil..."
...Worldwide, this included school closures in 138 countries, affecting approximately 80% of school-age children (Van Lancker & Parolin, 2020)....
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University of Ibadan1, University of Washington2, George Washington University3, King's College London4, College of Health Sciences, Bahrain5, Harvard University6, University of Liverpool7, Health Services Academy8, University of Sussex9, Michigan State University10, Kathmandu11, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation12, Pravara Institute of Medical Sciences13, University of KwaZulu-Natal14, University of the Free State15, Centre for Mental Health16
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the mental health implications of the COVID-19 pandemic in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) in four parts: the emerging literature on the impact of the pandemic on mental health, which shows high rates of psychological distress and early warning signs of an increase in mental health disorders.
359 citations
References
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TL;DR: A review of 39 studies indicated that achievement test scores decline over summer vacation as discussed by the authors, and the effect of summer break was more detrimental for math than for reading and most detrimental for computation and spelling.
Abstract: A review of 39 studies indicated that achievement test scores decline over summer vacation. The results of the 13 most recent studies were combined using meta-analytic procedures. The meta-analysis indicated that the summer loss equaled about one month on a grade-level equivalent scale, or one tenth of a standard deviation relative to spring test scores. The effect of summer break was more detrimental for math than for reading and most detrimental for math computation and spelling. Also, middle-class students appeared to gain on grade-level equivalent reading recognition tests over summer while lower-class students lost on them. There were no moderating effects for student gender or race, but the negative effect of summer did increase with increases in students’ grade levels. Suggested explanations for the findings include the differential availability of opportunities to practice different academic material over summer (with reading practice more available than math practice) and differences in the mater...
906 citations
TL;DR: This paper examined the long-term educational consequences of summer learning differences by family socioeconomic level using data from the Baltimore Beginning School Study youth panel, and decompose achievement scores at the start of high school into their developmental precursors, back to the time of school entry in 1st grade.
Abstract: Prior research has demonstrated that summer learning rooted in family and community influences widens the achievement gap across social lines, while schooling offsets those family and community influences. In this article, we examine the long-term educational consequences of summer learning differences by family socioeconomic level. Using data from the Baltimore Beginning School Study youth panel, we decompose achievement scores at the start of high school into their developmental precursors, back to the time of school entry in 1st grade. We find that cumulative achievement gains over the first nine years of children’s schooling mainly reflect school-year learning, whereas the high SES–low SES achievement gap at 9th grade mainly traces to differential summer learning over the elementary years. These early out-of-school summer learning differences, in turn, substantially account for achievement-related differences by family SES in high school track placements (college preparatory or not), high school noncompletion, and four-year college attendance. We discuss implications for understanding the bases of educational stratification, as well as educational policy and practice.
674 citations
TL;DR: The hastily introduced measures vary widely between countries and even within countries, and reflect different phases of the epidemic, as well as differences in resources, cultures, governments, and laws.
Abstract: After 2 months of mostly waiting and seeing, many countries have suddenly implemented strict measures to slow the spread of coronavirus disease 2019. They had little choice, given the rapid rise in the number of cases and deaths in Europe and the United States. "This is war," President Emmanuel Macron told the French people. But how to fight that war is still under discussion. The hastily introduced measures vary widely between countries and even within countries. That reflects different phases of the epidemic, as well as differences in resources, cultures, governments, and laws. And there9s also confusion about what works best, and how to balance what is necessary with what is reasonable.
360 citations
TL;DR: This paper investigated the impact of extending free school lunch to all students, regardless of income, on academic performance in New York City middle schools using a difference-in-difference design and unique longitudinal, student level data, and derive credibly causal estimates of the impacts of universal free meals (UFM) on test scores in English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics, and participation in school lunch.
Abstract: This paper investigates the impact of extending free school lunch to all students, regardless of income, on academic performance in New York City middle schools Using a difference-in-difference design and unique longitudinal, student level data, we derive credibly causal estimates of the impacts of “Universal Free Meals” (UFM) on test scores in English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics, and participation in school lunch We find UFM increases academic performance by as much as 0059 standard deviations in math and 0083 in ELA for non-poor students, with smaller, statistically significant effects of 0032 and 0027 standard deviations in math and ELA for poor students Further, UFM increases participation in school lunch by roughly 110 percentage points for non-poor students and 54 percentage points for poor students We then investigate the academic effects of school lunch participation per se, using UFM as an instrumental variable Results indicate that increases in school lunch participation improve academic performance for both poor and non-poor students; an additional lunch every two weeks increases test scores by roughly 008 standard deviations in math and 007 standard deviations in ELA Finally, we explore potential unintended consequences for student weight outcomes, finding no evidence that UFM increases probability of obesity or overweight, or BMI Results are robust to an array of alternative assumptions about sample and specifications
64 citations