CV NEWS FEED // Nearly half of U.S. parents of school-aged children report that their children experienced social and emotional issues as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, with children in middle school at the start of pandemic the most negatively impacted, according to new data from Gallup.
Gallup reported that of the 45% of parents who reported a negative impact on their children’s social skills development, 22% said the issues still persist and 23% reported that they have gone away. Similar percentages said the same of their children’s mental health, with an overall 41% reporting negative effects from the pandemic and 21% of that group saying the issue is carrying on.
Parents were more likely to report that their children experienced social or emotional issues as a result of the pandemic than they were to say that their children’s academics (roughly 32%) or physical health (23%) suffered.
“Meanwhile, solid majorities of K-12 parents — ranging from 56% to 69% — say there was no effect on their child’s physical health or math, reading or science skills. Fewer say the same about their child’s social skills development (47%) and mental health (52%),” Gallup reported.
However, Gallup noted that a National Assessment of Educational Progress report discovered that reading and math scores across the country are still lower than they were before the pandemic.
Parents who had middle-school aged children (sixth through eighth grade) at the start of the pandemic are most likely to report ongoing negative effects, Gallup noted. Elementary and high school students were generally less likely to have been impacted negatively socially, mentally, academically, and physically.
“While partisans’ views of many aspects of the pandemic differ sharply, K-12 parents’ reports of its negative effects on their child’s life are similar across party lines,” Gallup reported. “Differences by other demographic subgroups are minimal, aside from a significant discrepancy in the percentages of women (25%) and men (16%) reporting their child suffers an ongoing negative effect on their mental health.”
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