Covid Lockdowns disrupted a crucial competence among young people

As tempting as to push signs of locking at the back of our minds, the impact of the COVVI-19 pandemic had a lasting effect on society. Now, new research reveals the long -term effect of locking on crucial competence in children – social cognition.

Social cognition is the ability to understand the behavior of others. It allows us to interpret and predict the actions of others and is crucial to establish positive relationships and communicate effectively with others.

Now, it seems that locking, social distancing and school closures – while restricting the spread of COVID -19 – have had a negative impact on the development of the social cognition of preschool children, in particular those from lower socio-economic environments.

A team from the University of California-Merced arrived at this conclusion after having compared data on children aged 3 and a half to 5 years which had been collected before and after the pandemic. Data related to a phenomenon called understanding of false beliefs, alias the ability to achieve that other people can be false.

One of the three tasks included in the study concerned a puppet called Piggy, which placed a toy in one of the two containers before leaving. When Piggy left, another puppet, the dog, transferred the toy to the other container. The researchers then asked the child which Piggy container would check. Those who have social cognition skills adapted to age would understand that Piggy would select the first container even if they themselves knew that it was in the other container.

“It was remarkable to see the drop in children’s performance,” said principal Rose Scott, professor of psychology at the University of California, in a statement.

“On one of the tasks of my laboratory, the children were tested before the pandemic could go to 2 and a half years. Right after locking, we saw children of 5 years not to spend it. »»

While four out of five children were tested before the locking completed the test successfully, only 63% of the post-blocking group was passed. This dropped to 51% of those in low -income houses. Although the study did not identify the reasons for this gap, previous research has suggested that locking offered additional high-top income families who had a positive effect of locking the development of the child’s development .

What are the long -term ramifications?

According to Scott, children devoid of these essential skills can find more difficult to socialize with peers and succeed on the school level in recent years.

“You think of what a child must do to interact with others in a classroom. They want to have friends, but must take into account other perspectives to have effective social interactions, “said Scott.

“Like,” I know you want to play this now, but I really want to play it. He is able to keep these two points of view in mind and always interact. »»

This is not the first research element showing the impact of locking on health and development of children. From premature aging observed in the brain of adolescent girls to an increase in development delays, it appears more and more that the Pandemic COVID-19 has had a lasting effect on children and young people.

Research was published in the journal Scientific Research.