ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the daily life and social relationships of pre-school children globally. While many studies have examined the impact of the pandemic on children, few have compared the home environment and children’s social skills before and after the pandemic. To address this research gap, we used data from the Japan Child Care Cohort study, which included questions on home environment answered by parents (1748 in 2019 and 1349 in 2020) of children aged 0–6 years using self-reported questionnaires and data on the social skills of children aged 1–6 years (1917 in 2019 and 1989 in 2020) that were evaluated by childcare professionals in childcare centres. Using the Chi-square test, home environments and social skills were compared. We found that frequencies of family meals, no punishment, and a positive attitude toward children’s mistakes were higher in 2020. In contrast, frequencies of shopping together, visiting children’s friends and relatives, and having social support from others were lower in 2020. Additionally, children’s social skills in 2019 were better than in 2020. Childcare institutions can consider these differences and create a support plan to ensure quality child-rearing practices and healthy child development.

摘要

COVID-19 大流行影响了全球学龄前儿童的日常生活和社会关系。尽管许多研究都考察了大流行病对儿童的影响，但很少有研究比较大流行病前后的家庭环境和儿童的社交技能。为了弥补这一研究差距，我们使用了日本儿童保育队列研究的数据，其中包括父母使用自我报告的问卷调查回答的 0-6 岁儿童的家庭环境问题（2019 年 1748 人和 2020 年 1349 人）和数据由托儿中心的托儿专业人员评估的 1-6 岁儿童（2019 年为 1917 岁，2020 年为 1989 岁）的社交技能。使用卡方检验，比较了家庭环境和社交技能。我们发现家庭聚餐的频率，没有惩罚，