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

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.