Corona-related fear of the future in grade schoolers from Germany

• In Event: Poster Session 07
  In Poster Session: PS 07 Topic - Solicited Content: COVID-19 Related

Abstract

The Corona virus and the ensuing health and safety measures have adversely affected children and their families world-wide. During the months of the lockdown schools were closed, and many children felt lonely because they could not go out to play or to meet their friends (Gilleard et al., 2020). New anxieties emerged which related to fears of a Corona infection when leaving the family home, fears of infections, suffering (or in some cases death) of family members and friends, and fears of not being able to complete their assignments for school (Gilleard et al., 2020). Children’s and adolescents’ mental health deteriorated in many countries (e.g., Gilleard et al., 2020 in the UK). In a representative German sample of 7-to-17-year-olds, for example, the rate of psychological problems on the SDQ increased from 18% before to 31% during the lockdown. Children and adolescents were also more likely to worry and to show elevated levels of hyperactivity (24 %), emotional problems (21%) and conduct problems (19%). In addition, 54% complained of irritability, 44% had trouble falling asleep, and over 40% suffered from headaches during the lockdown (Ravens-Sieberer et al., 2020).
Because of the ongoing restrictions in regard to physical contact and leisure-time activities, Corona-related fears are likely to darken children’s view of the future. We therefore asked N = 141 8-to-10-year-olds (mean age: 106 months, SD: 8.22) (51 % male) from third and fourth grade classrooms of an ongoing study in primary schools in Northern Germany to self-report about their anxieties (SCAS- subscale general anxiety) and their Corona-related fears of the future on the Short Form of the Dark Future Scale (Zalewski et al., 2019) that was adapted to Corona and to the young age-group. In addition, teachers filled in the SDQ for each child in their classroom.
Preliminary results suggest that our scale of children’s Corona-related fears of the future showed adequate internal consistency (alpha = .77). At T1 in September 2020, 18.4% of the children indicated on at least one of the four questions that they often experienced future related fears because of Corona. As in many other studies on anxiety, girls reported these fears more often than boys (t(137) = -2.30, p <.023). Girls were more worried “that the Corona virus may persist for a long time” (t(139)= -2.92, p <.004) and that their life “may get worse due to the Corona virus” (t(137)= -1.92, p = .057). In the future, we will corroborate construct validity by correlating children’s Corona related fear of the future with other self-report, teacher-report, and peer-report measures of anxiety. Because we will ask the same children again at T2 in December 2020, we will be able to report trends over time, when Corona-related restrictions persist, and the financial strain on many families may increase.
Children have been known to be keen observers of social transformations. Corona and Corona-related health and safety measures may thus have a lasting impact on the prospects of a future generation.

Authors

• Maria von Salisch, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg
  Presenting Author

• Martha Jez, Leuphana University Lueneburg
  Non-Presenting Author

• Katharina Voltmer, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg
  Non-Presenting Author