Children born during the pandemic score lower on cognitive tests, study finds

Mellouk89

You can read the study for yourself, but it's pretty dramatic :

https://www.bmj.com/content/374/bmj.n2031

Children born during the pandemic score markedly lower on standard measures of verbal, motor, and overall cognitive ability, US researchers have found.

In a longitudinal study of 672 children from Rhode Island that has run since 2011, those born after the pandemic began showed results on the Mullen scales of early learning that corresponded to an average IQ score of 78, a drop of 22 points from the average of previous cohorts.

The researchers have largely ruled out a direct effect of the virus, as mothers or children with a history of testing positive for covid-19 were excluded from the analysis. Instead, the authors say, reduced interaction with parents and less outdoor exercise are likely culprits, along with effects that occurred during pregnancy.

Ketomoijo

I can’t see any of those being the culprit since lockdowns and working from home parents have spent a lot more one to one time with babies. That would only improve motor and cognitive skills .

The only downside I personally have seen are socially.. the lack of social interaction.. all these babies know are their own households.

Speakeasy76

Oh, wow. As an early intervention therapist, this is alarming. I wonder if we'll be seeing an increase in referrals from this. I am surprised that children born before the pandemic don't seem to be affected as well. It would seem like even just limited exposure to places outside of the home, especially with the opportunity to be around other children, would impact them, too. However, it may be too soon to measure that, and that is something that is not easily measured on standardized tests for kids that young.

When parents had to work from home, I'm sure many little ones were exposed to way more screen time (understandably) to keep them entertained. Also, if parents are stressed, anxious and depressed, it can affect how they interact with their children. I also know that across the country standardized academic scores are down for school-age children as well.

Carlos_421

Anecdotally, our baby was born in April 2020, during peak lockdowns.
We haven't raised her as though there is a lockdown.
We've acted as though life is normal, taking her to church, the store, restaurants, get-togethers, family and friends' homes, play dates, etc..
Why? Among other reasons, because as a baby, lack of social interactions and new experiences is more likely to have a negative impact on her than covid.

Incidentally, she's impressively brilliant.
Her pediatrician deals a lot in child psychology and he is consistently blown away during her regular checkups at how advanced she is both in intelligence and motor skills.

I'm not at all surprised that a generation of babies who've been sheltered within their own homes, having not experienced new places, met new people, played with other children, interacted with strangers, etc. are experiencing slowed cognitive development.

Edit: The article also implies that even parents are interacting with their babies less now than a couple years ago, due to new habits of spending even more time doing things like watching Netflix.
So yes, they're home more, potentially, but in the case of newborns, it can be pretty easy to just feed and change them without really interacting as much.
That's no bueno.