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Updated: Jul 16, 2025

Experimental Paradigm for Measuring the Effects of Self-distancing in Young Children
Published on: March 1, 2019
Exploring changes in children's well-being due to COVID-19 restrictions: the Italian EpaS-ISS study
Marco Giustini1, Ilaria Luzi2, Angela Spinelli3
1Environment and Health Department, Italian National Institute of Health, Rome, Italy. marco.giustini@iss.it.
Background:
While existing research has explored changes in health behaviours among adults and adolescents due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the impact of quarantine on young children's well-being is still less clear. Moreover, most of the published studies were carried out on small and non-representative samples. The aim of the EpaS-ISS study was to describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the habits and behaviours of a representative sample of school children aged mainly 8-9 years and their families living in Italy, exploring the changes in children's well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the immediately preceding time period.
Methods:
Data were collected using a web questionnaire. The target population was parents of children attending third-grade primary schools and living in Italy. A cluster sample design was adopted. A Well-Being Score (WBS) was calculated by summing the scores from 10 items concerning the children's well-being. Associations between WBS and socio-demographic variables and other variables were analysed.
Results:
A total of 4863 families participated. The children's WBS decreased during COVID-19 (median value from 31 to 25; p = 0.000). The most statistically significant variables related to a worsening children's WBS were: time of school closure, female gender, living in a house with only a small and unliveable outdoor area, high parents' educational level and worsening financial situation.
Conclusions:
According to parents ' perception, changes in daily routine during COVID-19 negatively affected children's well-being. This study has identified some personal and contextual variables associated with the worsening of children's WBS, which should be considered in case of similar events.
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