A study yesterday in JAMA Pediatrics shows varying developmental health trends among US kindergartners immediately prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Though several studies have shown school closures and pandemic-era shutdowns had negative effects on elementary and high school students, the developmental impact of the pandemic has been less studied on the youngest schoolchildren.
In this study, the authors used data from the Early Development Instrument (EDI), among a sample of 475,740 US kindergarteners from 2010 to 2023. The kids attended schools in 19 states and represented 398 school districts. Participants were an average 6 years of age, and 51.1% were boys.
Outcomes were EDI scores in five categories: physical health and well-being, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive development, and communication and general knowledge.
Language, cognitive development declined
In contrast to what has been documented in older children and teens, no changes were found in physical health and well-being scores among kindergartners before and during the pandemic.
However, communication and general knowledge, language and cognitive development, and social competence all saw significant drops in EDI scores during COVID-19 (2021 to 2023). These scores were significantly lower compared with the immediate prepandemic period (2018 to 2020) for communication and general knowledge (mean change, −0.21; 95% confidence interval (CI), −0.24 to −0.17), language and cognitive development (mean change, −0.47; 95% CI, −0.49 to −0.45), and social competence (mean change, −0.03; 95% CI, −0.06 to −0.01), the authors wrote.
Our findings underscore the need for early childhood policies that address these preexisting challenges and the additional stressors introduced by the pandemic.
“Our findings underscore the need for early childhood policies that address these preexisting challenges and the additional stressors introduced by the pandemic,” the authors concluded.
