ArticleJCPP advances2026
Trajectories of child emotional and behavioural difficulties before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in a longitudinal UK cohort.
Article in JCPP advances, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Childhood trajectories of internalising and externalising problems associated with a polygenic risk score for neuroticism in a UK birth cohort study.JCPP advances · 2023Article
- The impact of routines on emotional and behavioural difficulties in children and on parental anxiety during COVID-19.Frontiers in child and adolescent psychiatry · 2023Article
- Parents' perceptions of children's emotional well-being during spring 2020 COVID-19 restrictions: A qualitative study with parents of young children in England.Child: care, health and development · 2022Article
- Bias from questionnaire invitation and response in COVID-19 research: an example using ALSPAC.Wellcome open research · 2021Article
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14 authors.
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Abstract
Background: There are substantial age-related changes in emotional and behavioural problems over childhood. In order to establish the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on child emotional and behavioural problems, longitudinal designs which take into account age-related trends are needed. This study examined trajectories of children's emotional and behavioural difficulties both before and during the pandemic in a prospective birth cohort. Methods: Data were from 708 children from the third generation of a birth cohort study; the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children in England. The study population comprised of 708 children (median age at COVID data collection was 2.75 years [interquartile range 0.8, 4.4]) whose parents provided pre-pandemic surveys and a survey between 26 May and 5 July 2020. Multi-level mixed effects models with random intercepts and slopes examined whether children's trajectories of emotional and behavioural difficulties during the pandemic differ from those expected pre-pandemic. Results: Children's emotional and behavioural difficulties trajectories pre-pandemic increased during infancy peaking around the age of 2 and then declined throughout the rest of childhood. Pre-pandemic, decline in difficulties scores after age 2 was 0.6 points per month; but reduced by 35% during the pandemic. This slower decline in scores translated to older children having difficulty scores higher than would be expected, during the pandemic. By age 8.5, there is a 9.5-point difference in pre- and during-pandemic scores (95% CI: 4.5-14.5). This represents an average 48% increase from scores expected at this age (pre-pandemic mean score = 20; 95% CI: [15-25]). Results remained similar although somewhat attenuated after adjusting for parental anxiety. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic may be associated with greater persistence of emotional and behavioural difficulties after the age of 2 years.
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