Covid Lockdowns May Have Permanently Stunted Brain Development in Children, Alarming Study Finds

The Covid lockdowns may have inflicted long-term harm on children’s brain development, an alarming new study has found. The Mail has the story.

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 Professor 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.

Worth reading in full.