Voltmer Katharina, von Salisch Maria
Leuphana Universität Lüneburg Institut für Bildung und Psychologie der Nachhaltigkeit Universitätsallee 1 21335 Lüneburg Deutschland.
Prax Kinderpsychol Kinderpsychiatr. 2023 May;72(4):305-322. doi: 10.13109/prkk.2023.72.4.305.
To explore the long-term effects of the COVID-19-pandemic on children, N = 140 8- to 10- year-olds were asked about their COVID-related future anxiety (CRFA) in their classrooms during months 6, 9, and 14 of the pandemic which started inMarch 2020 in Germany. Future anxiety was defined as a "state of apprehension, uncertainty, fear, worry, or anxiety about unfavorable changes in a more distant personal future" which was related to the effects of the COVID- 19-pandemic. In this survey, 13%to 19%of children reported experiencing CRFA "often" on at least one of the four items of the newly developed CRFA scale. Experiencing CRFA "often" was reported by 16% of the children at two and by 8 % of the children at three measurement points, among them more girls and more children from homes with poor educational backgrounds. Analyses uncovered large interindividual differences: For 45 % of the children CRFA decreased between months 6 and 9 of the pandemic, whereas for 43 % it increased. Children of parents with low educational backgrounds weremore likely to report frequent CRFA at all three measurement time points, even after controlling for gender and incidence of COVID-19-in Germany.This confirms predictions that contagion risk and controllability influence future anxiety. The descriptive results additionally support earlier findings that many children already experience future anxiety about macro-level events. The results on chronic CRFA underscore the urgency to examine the long-time effects of CRFA with greater care.This is of paramount importance considering the macro-level challenges of the future.
为探究新冠疫情对儿童的长期影响，在德国于2020年3月开始的疫情的第6个月、第9个月和第14个月期间，对140名8至10岁的儿童在其教室中进行了关于他们与新冠相关的未来焦虑（CRFA）的询问。未来焦虑被定义为“对更遥远的个人未来中不利变化的一种担忧、不确定、恐惧、忧虑或焦虑的状态”，这与新冠疫情的影响相关。在这项调查中，13%至19%的儿童报告在新开发的CRFA量表的四个项目中的至少一项上“经常”体验到CRFA。16%的儿童在两个测量点报告“经常”体验到CRFA，8%的儿童在三个测量点报告“经常”体验到CRFA，其中女孩更多，且来自教育背景较差家庭的儿童更多。分析发现个体间存在很大差异：在疫情的第6个月至第9个月期间，45%的儿童的CRFA有所下降，而43%的儿童的CRFA有所上升。即使在控制了德国的性别和新冠发病率之后，教育背景较低的父母的孩子在所有三个测量时间点更有可能报告频繁的CRFA。这证实了传染风险和可控性会影响未来焦虑这一预测。描述性结果还支持了早期的研究发现，即许多儿童已经对宏观层面的事件体验到未来焦虑。关于慢性CRFA的结果强调了更仔细地研究CRFA长期影响的紧迫性。考虑到未来的宏观层面挑战，这至关重要。
