Effects of the Pandemic and Confinement Measures on Mental Health in Chilean Children

The COVID-19 pandemic has evolved complex challenges especially for families with children and adolescents. The impact of the pandemics' confinement on mental health has been described as devastating, limiting the resources available to families and increasing caregivers' stress levels and demands on their efforts. This study showed the results of an online survey of caregivers, mothers or fathers, with at least one child between 0 and 11 years old who lived the first weeks of confinement throughout Chile. The variables associated with physical symptoms, anxiety, mood, disruptive behavior, sleep problems, low frustration tolerance, attentional difficulties, hyperactivity and regressive behaviors that are related to the psychological impact that the measure of confinement has had on children from 0 to 11 years of age were studied through a questionnaire quantifying their frequency by age group, identifying how these effects are expressed in relation to the vital stages of child development. The results indicate that the younger the age of the children (0 to 3 years) the greater the presence of disruptive behaviors, while the older the age (9 to 11 years) the greater the presence of symptoms such as sadness, anxiety, listlessness and sleep problems. The implications of these results are discussed in terms of policies and strategies to address them, which should consider both the developmental stage of the children and the main caregivers, given the protective role they can play in stressful situations.