4080 Current Events and Child Development Paper

1. CURRENT EVENTS AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT 1
Current Events and Child Development Paper
Alison Bullock
Department of Family and Consumer Science, University of Georgia
HDFS 4080: Advanced Child Development
Dr. Kalsea Koss
October 27, 2022

2. CURRENT EVENTS AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT 2
Introduction
The first coronavirus case within the United States was reported in January of 2020.
What followed this announcement was a declaration of a nationwide emergency, travel bans,
school shutdowns, quarantine and mask mandates, and many positive cases. The pandemic
has continued over the course of three years and the transition back to what was once normal
has been gradual. This nationwide experience has impacted individuals of all ages; however,
it has been quite unique for children ages five to nine. Growing up during a pandemic has
impacted many different areas of children’s development, including cognitive, emotional, and
physical domains. Although each child is different, there have been multiple trends in
research regarding how the coronavirus pandemic has affected children of various ages. With
that being said, effects from the pandemic have had both short term and long-term effects on
the development of children.
How Daily Life has Changed
To begin, there were an abundance of ways that daily life changed for children when
the coronavirus pandemic first emerged. One of these changes included the closing of
approximately 100,000 public schools in the United States (Zviedrite et al., 2021). This
resulted in over 50 million grade school students staying home and transitioning to online
learning (Zviedrite et al., 2021). This meant that experiences such as peer socialization and
regular meal programs also came to a halt. Similar to this, many extracurricular activities,
such as clubs and sports, were also canceled. Another way daily life changed for children was
the mandate of social distancing and mask wearing. During the pandemic, many public and
private institutions enforced six feet social distancing and required masks when inside

3. CURRENT EVENTS AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT 3
buildings. Each of these changes had some form of impact on child development in multiple
ways.
Course Concepts
Over the course of the semester, specific course concepts have been discussed that apply
to child development, specifically related to the coronavirus pandemic. Further on in this
essay, class concepts will be mentioned including Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems
Theory, the Sensitive Periods Model, the Diathesis-Stress Model, executive function,
temperament, and others. Each of these concepts have the ability to vary when compared to
children of different ages.
Changes in Physical and Social Environments
The pandemic resulted in changes in both physical and social environments for
children. The closing of physical environments such as schools, churches, playgrounds, and
daycares meant that majority of their time was spent at home. This change in their physical
environment also meant that their social environment shifted from being primarily their peers
to being their family. Within Bronfenbrenner’s context, children’s exosystem, mesosystem,
and microsystem became intertwined. If primary caregivers were unable to stay home with
children then the role was passed to secondary caregivers. This changed children’s daily
routines and relationships, which therefore impacted the conversations they were having,
technology they had access to, and how they were learning. These drastic changes had the
potential to hinder or support development. The Diathesis-Stress Model states that some
individuals have a vulnerability to environmental risk. In neutral or positive environments,
there are no observed differences. However, in risky environments, some individuals will be

4. CURRENT EVENTS AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT 4
adversely influenced by risk (Pluess, 2015). Depending on the type of home and family
children became isolated in during the pandemic determines whether this physical and social
change hindered or supported them developmentally.
Impact on Brain Development
The development of the brain is built on early life experiences along with the role of
genetics. Although the brain continues growing and adapting throughout our life, the
plasticity of it decreases as individuals grow older. This is further supported by the Sensitive
Period Model, which states that experiences within a specific developmental window are the
most influential (Dunn et al., 2019). Brain development extends out to linguistic, cognitive,
and social-emotional skills (Shonkoff et al., 2012). Childhood is a critical time period of
development and research has shown that toxic stress can have negative, long-lasting effects
in this area. The coronavirus pandemic has been a source of stress to children in multiple
ways, specifically the abrupt transition of learning environments and learning methods. If
their household were to experience economic insecurity or sickness of a loved one, further
disruptions may affect a child. In addition to this, adjusting to learning in a home environment
has meant that there has been less accountability when learning school material. Caregivers
may have other commitments, like working hours or other children to take care of. This could
possibly mean less support in a child’s learning development when school systems were
closed, which therefore may have hindered their academic success. Mask mandates also had
the potential to impact child’s language development, as they lost the ability to watch and
mimic others speaking. One way to intervene in protecting children’s brain development
would be encouraging caregivers could look into the resource kits available that will assist
them with tools and personal skills that can assist with their child’s academic and cognitive

5. CURRENT EVENTS AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT 5
development. Furthermore, policies could be implemented in school systems that are similar
to catch up programs, to assist children who may have fallen behind in cognitive development
during the pandemic.
Impact on Emotional Development
Emotional development consists of both executive function and self-regulation. The
Harvard Center for the Developing Child defines executive function and self-regulation skills
as, “the mental processes that enable us to plan, focus attention, remember instructions, and
juggle multiple tasks successfully. The brain needs this skill set to filter distractions, prioritize
tasks, set and achieve goals, and control impulses” (Harvard Center for the Development
Child, 2022). Each of these is foundationally developed based on their caregivers’ processes.
However, as children develop, they become more influenced by social and cultural standards
when learning how to handle their emotions (Thompson, 2011). For an individual in early
childhood, self-regulation is important because it teaches them how to interact with their
peers. It is a primary part of socialization, sharing, and making friends. Usually, executive
functioning and self-regulation skills develop gradually and naturally. However, children
lacked socialization with their peers during the pandemic. During these critical years of
development, children only had their caregivers and family to exemplify these two specific
skills. This has had the potential to negatively impact children’s emotional development
skills, because learning them through socialization with peers is crucial. One strategy that
could be implemented in the home in order to help children’s emotional development is the
intentionality of playing with games that practice working memory, inhibitory control, and
mental flexibility. For example, games involving sharing or puzzles would be beneficial.

6. CURRENT EVENTS AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT 6
Impact on Physical Development
Physical development can be defined as the advancements of children’s abilities to use
and control their bodies. It includes domains such as height, weight, and motor skills (Gross,
2018). In relation to weight, a child is usually determined to be underweight, a healthy weight,
overweight, or obese by their body mass index. An individual’s body mass index is calculated
by dividing their weight in kilograms by their height in meters. A child is considered a healthy
weight when their weight falls between the 5th
percentile and 85th
percentile based on their
age. A child is considered overweight or obese if they are greater than the 85th
percentile
(CDC, 2021). Based on research, childhood obesity increased up to 2.4% during the pandemic
(Suarez-Lopez et al., 2021). This physical domain could have been impacted by the reduction
in physical activity and nutritious meals by the closing of schools. Prior to school closures,
school meals and snacks provided up to two-thirds of children’s nutritional needs (Dunn et al,
2020). When children began their education at home, it also meant they had more access to
food, unsupervised eating, and possibly access to unhealthier foods. While many families
were struggling financially during the pandemic, packaged foods tended to be less expensive
compared to fresh foods (Muncke et al., 2020). One possible strategy that could be
implemented in the home to promote healthy eating habits and decrease obesity could be
educating the direct family on proper food portions and physical activity. Education and
knowledge have the potential to benefit children directly and positively.
Variations among Children
One reason for individual differences among children of the same age group coping
with the coronavirus pandemic could be attributed to variation in temperaments. Although

7. CURRENT EVENTS AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT 7
temperament can be influenced by biological factors, it increasingly becomes more influenced
by experiences and context as children age (Goldsmith et al., 1987). Each child is influenced
by different experiences and contexts that is based on their own living situations and
socialization influences. For this reason, children of the same age can vary in their
temperaments. However, temperament can also differ among children of different
chronological ages. Depending on what time period children are born in, they may be exposed
to more or less things in their environment that can influence their temperament, making it
more or less balanced. These environmental exposures can be experiences that happen on a
greater scale, affecting a certain generation differently than others. This can be seen with the
international experience of the pandemic. Different age groups were impacted differently.
Specifically, five to nine year olds had their elementary education interrupted and many other
changes that have been discussed. These changes had the potential to affect this age group in
different ways than adolescents or elders, who had further brain, emotional, and physical
development when the interrupting event occurred.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is obvious that the current pandemic has impacted children ages five
to nine in specific and multiple ways. These impacted areas of development include brain
development, emotional development, and physical development. However, more areas such
as social development were affected as well. The international pandemic caused many
changes to occur, including school closings, mandated social distancing and masks, and
isolation. These changes impacted every age group in various ways, however those considered
in early childhood had a unique experience. It is important to remember that interventions can

8. CURRENT EVENTS AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT 8
still be put in place in order to help children continue learning and regaining progress that
may have been lost over the last few years.

9. CURRENT EVENTS AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT 9
References
A Guide to Executive Function. (2019b, February 22). Center on the Developing Child at
Harvard University. https://developingchild.harvard.edu/guide/a-guide-to-executive-
function/
Dunn, C. G., Kenney, E., Fleischhacker, S. E., & Bleich, S. N. (2020b). Feeding Low-Income
Children during the Covid-19 Pandemic. New England Journal of Medicine, 382(18),
e40. https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmp2005638
Dunn, E. C., Soare, T. W., Zhu, Y., Simpkin, A. J., Suderman, M. J., Klengel, T., Smith, A. D.,
Ressler, K. J., & Relton, C. L. (2019). Sensitive Periods for the Effect of Childhood
Adversity on DNA Methylation: Results From a Prospective, Longitudinal Study.
Biological Psychiatry, 85(10), 838–849. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.12.023
Goldsmith, H. H., Buss, A. H., Plomin, R., Rothbart, M. K., Thomas, A., Chess, S., Hinde, R. A.,
& McCall, R. B. (1987). Roundtable: What Is Temperament? Four Approaches. Child
Development, 58(2), 505. https://doi.org/10.2307/1130527
Gross, D. L. (2019). Infancy: Development from birth to age 3. Rowman & Littlefield.
Muncke, J., Andersson, A. M., Backhaus, T., Boucher, J. M., Carney Almroth, B., Castillo
Castillo, A., Chevrier, J., Demeneix, B. A., Emmanuel, J. A., Fini, J. B., Gee, D., Geueke,
B., Groh, K., Heindel, J. J., Houlihan, J., Kassotis, C. D., Kwiatkowski, C. F., Lefferts, L.
Y., Maffini, M. V., . . . Scheringer, M. (2020). Impacts of food contact chemicals on
human health: a consensus statement. Environmental Health, 19(1).
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12940-020-0572-5
Pluess, M. (2015). Individual Differences in Environmental Sensitivity. Child Development
Perspectives, 9(3), 138–143. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12120

10. CURRENT EVENTS AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT 10
Shonkoff, J. P., Garner, A. S., Siegel, B. S., Dobbins, M. I., Earls, M. F., Garner, A. S.,
McGuinn, L., Pascoe, J., & Wood, D. L. (2012). The Lifelong Effects of Early Childhood
Adversity and Toxic Stress. Pediatrics, 129(1), e232–e246.
https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2011-2663
Suarez-Lopez, J. R., Cairns, M. R., Sripada, K., Quiros-Alcala, L., Mielke, H. W., Eskenazi, B.,
Etzel, R. A., & Kordas, K. (2021). COVID-19 and children’s health in the United States:
Consideration of physical and social environments during the pandemic. Environmental
Research, 197, 111160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2021.111160
Thompson, R. A. (2011). Emotion and Emotion Regulation: Two Sides of the Developing Coin.
Emotion Review, 3(1), 53–61. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073910380969
Zviedrite, N., Hodis, J. D., Jahan, F., Gao, H., & Uzicanin, A. (2021). COVID-19-associated
school closures and related efforts to sustain education and subsidized meal programs,
United States, February 18–June 30, 2020. PLOS ONE, 16(9), e0248925.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0248925