In the Shadow of Crisis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Children’s Social-Emotional Skills, Behavioral Adjustment, and Well-Being

Global crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, profoundly disrupt children’s environments, threatening their social-emotional development, well-being, and increasing the risk of behavioral problems. This meta-analysis synthesizes longitudinal data from 157 studies, involving demographically diverse samples from a wide range of cultural contexts (32 countries), to examine the pandemic’s impact on children aged 0–12 and the moderating effects of political restrictions. Results showed significant declines in social-emotional skills and well-being, and increases in behavioral problems compared to pre-pandemic levels. However, there were no further declines among studies conducted entirely during the pandemic. Political restrictions moderated the outcomes: stricter measures were associated with greater declines in well-being and increased externalizing problems. These findings underscore the developmental costs of crisis-related disruptions for children.