Table 2.
Main characteristics of included studies on trauma-related symptoms in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic among children and adolescents.
| Authors/date of publication | Study design; Country; Date of data collection; Sample characteristics |
Main findings |
|---|---|---|
| Cetin et al., 2020 | Cross-sectional (with comparison groups); Turkey; 2020, May 7–14; n = 76; Children (ADHD); Age range: 8–12 years; Age: M = 10.09 years (SD = 2.23); Gender ratio: 30.3 % female Parental marital status: 89.5 % married |
No prevalence rates reported; Children with ADHD and the Evening-chronotype exhibited significantly higher trauma symptoms and sleep problems compared to children with ADHD and the non-Evening-chronotype during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| Duan et al., 2020 | Cross-sectional; China (mainland); Not reported (during the spread of COVID-19 in China); n = 3613 students (359 children and 3254 adolescents); Age range: 7–18 years; Age: not reported; Gender ratio: 49.85 % female; Parental marital status: 68.56 % in nuclear family |
Depressive symptoms: 22.28 % (n = 805); Anxiety symptoms: reported to be descriptively higher than before the pandemic; Smartphone addiction: 13.06 % of females and 10.30 % of males; Internet addiction: 6.03 % (n = 218) |
| Guo et al., 2020 | Cross-sectional; China; 2020, February 8–27; n = 6196 students (with and without adverse childhood experiences); Age range: 11–18 years; Age: not reported; Gender ratio: 52.10 % female; Parental marital status: not reported |
No prevalence rates reported; Larger number of adverse childhood experiences predicted substantial higher levels of PTSS (effect size beta = 0.16 ∼ 0.27, respectively, p < .001) and anxiety (effect size beta = 0.32 ∼ 0.47, respectively, p < .001) during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| Karaman et al., 2021 | Cross-sectional; Turkey; 2020, May 15–25; n = 549 high school students; Age range: in grades 9–11; Age: M = 16.1 years (SD = 1.01); Gender ratio: 72.5 % female; Parental marital status: not reported |
PTSS: 36.6 % (n = 201) high impact of COVID-19 pandemic, and of these, 19.50 % (n = 107) severe impact of event/trauma symptomologies; SEM analysis indicated that IES-R scores had a total effect of 0.79 on anxiety, 0.75 on depression, 0.74 on negative self-concept, 0.68 on somatization, and 0.66 on hostility scores (respectively, p < .001) |
| Li et al., 2020 | Not reported; China (mainland; Hubei); 2020, January 31–February 8; n = 1172 children and adolescents (PTSD score of >17 (Perrin et al., 2005); and perceived COVID-19 as major stressful event experienced in the past 2 weeks); Age range: 8–18 years; Age: M = 12.80 years (SD = 1.64); Gender ratio: 58.28 % female; Parental marital status: not reported |
No prevalence rates reported; Total PTSD score was positively correlated with GAD (r = 0.16, p < .001), perceived threat of COVID-19 (r = 0.08, p < .01), and COVID-19-related courtesy stigma (r = 0.14, p < .001) |
| Ma et al., 2021 | Cross-sectional; China; 2020, April 11–17; n = 668 parents with children; Age range: 7–15 years; Age: not reported; Gender ratio: 49.7 % female; Parental marital status: 96.3 % married |
PTSD: 20.66 %; Depressive symptoms: 7.16 %; PTSD symptoms were significantly more prevalent in middle school (p = .05) and boarding school students (p = .004) compared to primary school and day school students, respectively; Depressive symptoms were also significantly more prevalent in middle school (p = .032) and boarding school students (p = .02) compared to primary and day school students, respectively |
| Moulin et al., 2021 | Cross-sectional in a longitudinal cohort study (over a duration of 5 weeks); France; 2020, March 24–April 28; n = 432 children; Age range: not reported; Age: M = 6.8 years (SD = 4.1); Gender ratio: 48.9 % female; Parental marital status: 59.8 % living together |
Emotional difficulties: 7.2 % (n = 31); Hyperactivity/inattention symptoms: 24.8 % (n = 107) |
| Shek et al., 2021 | Longitudinal (short-term); China (Chengdu); 2019, December 23–2020, January 13 January and 2020, June 16–2020, July 8; n = 4981 adolescents; Age range: 11–20 years; Age: M = 13.15 years (SD = 1.32); Gender ratio: 48.5 % female; Parental marital status: not reported |
PTSD: 10.4 % (n = 517); As expected, perceived threat of COVID-19 was positively associated with PTSD (r = 0.14, p < .001) |
| Wang et al., 2021 | Cross-sectional; China (Central China); 2020, May; n = 1488 adolescents; Age range: 12–16 years; Age: M = 13.85 years (SD = 0.891); Gender ratio: 43.88 % female; Parental marital status: not reported |
No prevalence rates reported; Female students (M = 9.38, SD = 6.11) scored higher than males (M = 8.61, SD = 5.71) on intrusive rumination (p < .05) during COVID-19 pandemic; Significant negative relationship (r = −0.14, p < .01) between emotional resilience and intrusive rumination; Creativity was positively related to adolescents' intrusive rumination (r = 0.21, p < .001) |
| Yang et al., 2020 | Not reported; China (Wuhan City); 2020, February 4–March 9; n = 286 high school students; Age range: in 10–12 grades; Age: not reported; Gender ratio: 53.8 % female; Parental marital status: not reported |
No prevalence rates reported; Psychological trauma was a negative predictor of mental health (Zhang et al., 2013) among high school students (p < .01) |
| Zhang et al., 2020 | Cross-sectional (with comparison groups); China (Guangdong); 2020, April 7–24; n = 1025 (493 junior high and 532 high school students); Age range: not reported; Age: M = 15.56 years (SD = 1.89); Gender ratio: 48.5 % female; Parental marital status: not reported |
PTSS: 20.5 % (n = 101) of junior high school students, 22.7 % (n = 121) of high school students; Depressive symptoms: 9.1 % of junior high school students, 6.8 % of high school students (moderate); 5.3 % of junior high school students, 2.6 % of high school students (severe to extremely severe); Anxiety symptoms: 10.3 % of junior high school students, 10.9 % of high school students (moderate); 10.0 % of junior high school students, 7.2 % of high school students (severe to extremely severe); significant between-group difference (p = .015); Stress symptoms: 5.9 % of junior high school students, 6.8 % of high school students (moderate); 3.0 % of junior high school students, 2.6 % of high school students (severe to extremely severe); significant between-group difference (p = .028) |
Note. M = mean; SD = standard deviation; p = p-value; n = sample size; PTSD = post-traumatic stress disorder; PTSS = post-traumatic stress symptoms; GAD = generalized anxiety disorder; ADHD = attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.