Infant social development before versus during the COVID-19 pandemic and the mediating effect of maternal media use – an observational study from Germany

IF 2.1 4区心理学 Q2 PSYCHOLOGY, EXPERIMENTAL

Acta Psychologica Pub Date : 2025-05-27 DOI:10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.105111

Anna Friedmann , Katharina Richter , Tamara Fuschlberger , Friedrich Voigt , Ronald Schmid , Günter Esser , Frank W. Paulus , Volker Mall , Ina Nehring

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

The changes in social life and education settings associated with the COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted the social development of infants who are particularly vulnerable to environmental stressors.

The present observational study compared infants' social development in a group examined prior vs. a group examined during the COVID-19 pandemic and investigated the role of maternal media use. We also explored if any single developmental tasks were specifically affected.

Trained examiners assessed social developmental scores of 1860 healthy infants (0–24 months; mean age: 9.1 months, SD = 6.5) via a standardized developmental test.

An adjusted regression model showed significantly lower social developmental T-values (B = −1.790, 95 % CI: [−2.682; −0.898) for infants examined during the pandemic as well as for infants with a longer duration of exposure to the pandemic (B = −0.131, 95 % CI: [−0.239; −0.023]). The effect was partially mediated by maternal media use (direct effect: B = −1.35; total effect: B = −1.65, p < .05). Infants up to 11 months predominantly showed difficulties with engaging in dyadic interaction and emotion regulation, while in children up to 24 months of age items indicative of prosocial behavior were fulfilled less frequently.

While there seems to be a small effect of being examined during the pandemic on infants' social development, children were in a non-delayed range of development. Although it only had a small impact on social development, parents should be educated on responsible media use.

Longitudinal studies might offer further insights on additional influencing factors and long-term effects of the pandemic on infant social development.

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COVID-19大流行前与期间的婴儿社会发展以及母亲使用媒体的中介作用——来自德国的一项观察性研究

与COVID-19大流行相关的社会生活和教育环境的变化可能影响了特别容易受到环境压力因素影响的婴儿的社会发展。本观察性研究比较了在COVID-19大流行之前和期间接受检查的一组婴儿的社会发展情况，并调查了母亲使用媒体的作用。我们还探讨了是否有任何单一的发展任务受到了特别的影响。训练有素的考官评估了1860名健康婴儿(0-24个月；平均年龄：9.1个月，SD = 6.5)。调整后的回归模型显示，社会发展t值显著降低(B = - 1.790, 95% CI: [- 2.682；- 0.898)，适用于大流行期间检查的婴儿以及暴露于大流行持续时间较长的婴儿(B = - 0.131, 95% CI: [- 0.239；−0.023])。母体媒介使用介导了部分影响(直接影响：B =−1.35；总效应：B = - 1.65, p <；. 05)。11个月以下的婴儿主要表现出参与双元互动和情绪调节方面的困难，而24个月以下的儿童则表现出较少的亲社会行为。虽然在大流行期间接受检查对婴儿的社会发展似乎影响不大，但儿童处于一个没有延迟的发展范围。虽然它对社会发展的影响很小，但应该教育父母负责任地使用媒体。纵向研究可以进一步了解该流行病对婴儿社会发展的其他影响因素和长期影响。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Acta Psychologica PSYCHOLOGY, EXPERIMENTAL-

CiteScore

3.00

自引率

5.60%

发文量

274

审稿时长

36 weeks

期刊介绍： Acta Psychologica publishes original articles and extended reviews on selected books in any area of experimental psychology. The focus of the Journal is on empirical studies and evaluative review articles that increase the theoretical understanding of human capabilities.