' Maybe I can go back to school in a few weeks'
Children’s experiences of everyday life during COVID-19 lockdown in Norway
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31265/jcsw.v17i1.403Keywords:
Childhood, Children, COVID-19, Child development, Schools, Diary studies, Bronfenbrenner, Risk and protective factorsAbstract
This study explores everyday life from the perspective of children during school lockdown in Norway. The outbreak of Covid-19 greatly impacts societies on all levels. Studies have revealed a drastic change in children’s routines through home-schooling and reduced access to physical activities, as well as increase in contact with parents with subsequent potential friction or positive interactions. Children’s own perspective of their experiences during Covid-19 restrictions, nevertheless, appear to be scarce. This study provides a unique insight into ten children’s experiences through examination of their diary entries during lockdown. Our theoretical approach is based Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model of child development, and protective factors and risk factors in child development. Our findings indicate that children’s everyday life experiences during Covid-19 lockdown can be sorted into three different arenas: The home and family life, The school and learning activities, and The social and digital interaction with friends. These three arenas represent important micro-systems in the children’s lives. However, the shutting down of school and society has disrupted the overall ecological systems surrounding the children, increasing the potential weight of risk factors such as loneliness and stress. All arenas and system levels moved inside the children’s primary micro-arena; their homes and family life. Further, all forms of social interaction, both at school, among friends and in family life seem to depend on digital platforms, as the children respond to the new situation by using digital meeting places. Utilizing Bronfenbrenner’s systematic approach, the digital arena appears to manifest a new khrono-system in the children’s lives. The digital screens being what binds all eco-systems together. An important question for further studies is what consequences this has for the future development of childhood, and how do the children cope with this kind of disruption of their everyday lives.
References
Ares, G., Bove, I., Vidal, L., Brunet, G., Fuletti, D., Arroyo, Á. & Blanc, M. V. (2021). The experience of social distancing for families with children and adolescents during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Uruguay: Difficulties and opportunities. Children and Youth Services Review, 121(105906). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105906
Beazley, H., Bessell,S., Ennew, J & Waterson, R (2009) The right to be properly researched: research with children in a messy, real world, Children's Geographies, 7(4), 365-378, https://doi.org/10.1080/14733280903234428
Bolger, N., Davis, A. & Rafaeli, E. (2003). Diary Methods: Capturing Life as it is Lived. Annual Review of Psychology, 54(1), 579-616. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.54.101601.145030
Braun, V. & Clarke, V. (2012). Thematic analysis. In H. Cooper, P. M. Camic, D. L. Long, A. T. Panter, D. Rindskopf & K. J. Sher (Ed.), APA handbook of research methods in psychology, Vol. 2. Research designs: Quantitative, qualitative, neuropsychological, and biological (p. 57–71). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/13620-004
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1977). Toward an Experimental Ecology of Human Development. American Psychologist, 32(7), 513-531. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.32.7.513
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1996). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard University Press.
Buchanan, A. (2014). Risk and Protective Factors in Child Development and the Development of Resilience. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 2(4), 244-249. https://doi.org/10.4236/jss.2014.24025.
Cheng, T. L., Moon, M., Artman, M. (2020). Shoring up the safety net for children in the COVID-19 pandemic. Pediatric Research, 88(3), 349-351. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-020-1071-7
Chu, I., Alam, P., Larson, H. & Lin, L. (2020). Social consequences of mass quarantine during epidemics: A systematic review with implications for the COVID-19 response. Journal of Travel Medicine, 27(7), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1093/jtm/taaa192
Daks, J. S., Peltz, J. S. & Rogge, R. D. (2020). Psychological flexibility and inflexibility as sources of resiliency and risk during a pandemic: Modeling the cascade of COVID-19 stress on family systems with a contextual behavioral science lens. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 18, 16-27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2020.08.003
Dong, C., Cao, S. & Li, H. (2020). Young children’s online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic: Chinese parents’ beliefs and attitudes. Children and Youth Services Review, 118(105440). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105440
Ellis, B. J., Bianchi, J., Griskevicius, V. & Frankenhuis, W. E. (2017). Beyond Risk and Protective Factors: An Adaptation-Based Approach to Resilience. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 12(4), 561–587. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691617693054
Fraser, E. (2020). Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on violence against women and girls. VAWG Helpdesk. (Helpdesk Research Report, 284)
Ferguson, K. T., Cassells, R. C., MacAllister, J. W. & Evans, G. W. (2013). The physical environment and child development: An international review. International Journal of Psychology, 48(4), 437-468. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207594.2013.804190
Flouri, E. & Buchanan, A. (2004). Early father's and mother's involvement and child's later educational outcomes. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 74(2), 141-153. https://doi.org/10.1348/000709904773839806
Griffith, A. K. (2020). Parental burnout and child maltreatment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Family Violence, 37, 725-731. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-020-00172-2
Hantrais, L., Allin, P., Kritikos, M., Sogomonjan, M., Anand, P. B., Livingstone, S., Williams, M. & Innes, M. (2021). Covid-19 and the digital revolution. Contemporary Social Science, 16(2), 256-270. https://doi.org/10.1080/21582041.2020.1833234
Holmes, H. & Burgess, G. (2020). 'Pay the wi-fi or feed the children': Coronavirus has intensified the UK's digital divide. Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research. https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/digitaldivide
Kvello, Ø. (2015). Barn i risiko: Skadelige omsorgssituasjoner (2. ed.). Gyldendal akademisk.
Liu, J. J., Bao, Y., Huang, X., Shi, J. & Lu, L. (2020). Mental health considerations for children quarantined because of COVID-19. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 4(5), 347-349. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(20)30096-1
Livingstone, S. (2018). iGen: Why today’s super-connected kids are growing up less rebellious, more tolerant, less happy – and completely unprepared for adulthood. Journal of Children and Media, 12(1), 118-123. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2017.1417091
Marques de Miranda, D., da Silva Athanasio, B., Sena Oliveira, A. C. & Simoes, E. S. A. C. (2020). How is the COVID-19 pandemic impacting the mental health of children and adolescents? International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 51(101845). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2020.101845
Ohly, S., Sonnentag, S., Niessen, C. & Zapf, D. (2010). Diary studies in organizational research: An introduction and some practical recommendations. Journal of Personnel Psychology, 9(2), 79-93. https://doi.org/10.1027/1866-5888/a000009
Quiñones, G. & Adams, M. (2020). Children's virtual worlds and friendships during the COVID-19 pandemic. Video Journal of Education and Pedagogy, 5(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1163/23644583-bja10015
Rutter, M. (1989). Pathways from Childhood to Adult Life. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 30(1), 23-51. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1989.tb00768.x
Sameroff, A. (Ed.). (2009). The transactional model of development: How children and contexts shape each other. American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/11877-000
Santiago, C. D., Brewer, S. K., Fuller, A. K., Torres, S. A., Papadakis, J. L. & Ros, A. M. (2017). Stress, Coping, and Mood Among Latino Adolescents: A Daily Diary Study. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 27(3), 566-580. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12294
Timmermans, S. & Tavory, I. (2012). Theory Construction in Qualitative Research: From Grounded Theory to Abductive Analysis. Sociological Theory, 30(3), 167–186. https://doi.org/10.1177/0735275112457914
Uzun, H., Karaca, N. H. & Metin, Ş. (2021). Assessment of parent-child relationship in Covid-19 pandemic. Children and Youth Services Review, 120(105748). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105748
Viner, R. M., Russell, S. J., Croker, H., Packer, J., Ward, J., Stansfield, C., Mytton, O., Bonell, C. & Booy, R. (2020). School closure and management practices during coronavirus outbreaks including COVID-19: A rapid systematic review. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 4(5), 397-404. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(20)30095-X
WHO (2020). Note from the editors: World Health Organization declares novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) sixth public health emergency of international concern. Eurosurveillance, 25(5), 200131e. https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.5.200131e
Xie, X., Xue, Q., Zhou, Y., Zhu, K., Liu, Q., Zhang, J. & Song, R. (2020). Mental Health Status Among Children in Home Confinement During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Outbreak in Hubei Province, China. JAMA Pediatrics, 174(9), 898-900. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2020.1619
Ye, B., Wu, D., Im, H., Liu, M., Wang, X. & Yang, Q. (2020). Stressors of COVID-19 and stress consequences: The mediating role of rumination and the moderating role of psychological support. Children and Youth Services Review, 118(105466). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105466
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 The Author(s)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.