How Are Young Children Doing After the Pandemic? The Importance of Family Climate and Daycare Attendance for the Changes in Emotional Well-being Between 2019 and 2023
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Abstract
During the COVID-19-pandemic in 2020/2021, restricted social contacts and the closure of care and educational facilities significantly shifted the lives of many children into the family sphere. The effects on the well-being of very young children, who had not yet attended any childcare facility or were attending daycare at that time, have been scarcely investigated until now. The survey “Grown up in Germany” (AID:A) provides an opportunity to examine the well-being of children aged between 0 and under 4 years in two-year intervals starting from 2019, thereby allowing conclusions regarding changes and protective factors. Latent growth curve models reveal that the emotional well-being of these children decreased on average and has not returned to the initial level. A stable family climate and regular daycare attendance during the pandemic proved to be beneficial for the trajectory of these children’s well-being. The study contributes to a better understanding of the long-term effects of the pandemic on younger children, which appears relevant in view of other potential global crises.
Keywords: emotional well-being, family climate, COVID-19-Pandemic, 0–3 year old children, child care attendance
Bibliography: Chabursky, Sophia/Entleitner-Phleps, Christine/Simm, Inga/Linberg, Anja/Langmeyer, Alexandra N./Kuger, Susanne: Wie geht es Kleinkindern nach der Pandemie? Die Bedeutung des Familienklimas und des Kitabesuchs für die Veränderung des emotionalen Wohlbefindens zwischen 2019 und 2023, Diskurs Kindheits- und Jugendforschung / Discourse. Journal of Childhood and Adolescence Research, 3-2025, pp. 411-431.
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