Learning gain rather than learning loss during COVID-19: A proposal for reframing the narrative.

This cross-national study examined the connections between parental working time patterns (i.e., regular day work vs. nonstandard working hours) and children's socio-emotional wellbeing defined in terms of internalizing and externalizing problems and prosocial behavior. We also examined how the total number of hours worked, changes in work schedules, working overtime at short notice, and having an influence over one's work schedules were linked with children's wellbeing. Data were collected by a web survey from Finnish (n=358), Dutch (n=200) and British (n=267) parents with children aged 3 to 12years. The results showed, that in all three countries parents working nonstandard hours reported more internalizing problems among their children compared to parents in regular day work. In addition, parents whose work included overtime at short notice reported more internalizing problems among their children compared to parents who did not work overtime. Parental nonstandard working time was related to lowered prosocial behavior in children, as reported by parents, but only in the United Kingdom. Overall, the findings of this cross-national study indicated a universal, although weak association between nonstandard working hours and higher child internalizing problems. However, flexible arrangements both in working life and daycare services may help to promote children's socioemotional wellbeing — such as prosocial behaviors - in families where parents work nonstandard times.

Objective: This article explores the consequences of the first COVID-19 lockdown in the spring of 2020 in France on intra-family relationships and 9-year-old children's socio-emotional well-being. Background: On 17th March 2020, France began a strict lockdown to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, with school closures and limited outings permitted until early June. All family routines and work-life arrangements were impacted. A major concern relates to how these measures impacted family and child well-being. Method: We use data from the Elfe Sapris survey, administered during the first lockdown to about 5,000 families participating to the Etude longitudinale française depuis l'enfance (Elfe), a nationally representative birth cohort of children born in 2011. We analysed correlations between parents' socioeconomic and living conditions on four relational indicators: the experience of lockdown, the quality of relationships between parents and children, and between siblings, and an indicator of children’s socio-emotional well-being, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Results: The impact of the lockdown on family well-being was conditional on socio-economic factors and their changes over the period. Deterioration of households' financial situation and having to work outside the home during lockdown was negatively correlated with family relationships and children’s socio-emotional well-being. Conclusion: Overall, our results suggest that while France's first lockdown was a relatively positive period for many households with a primary-school-aged child, we highlight that restrictions exacerbated existing difficulties for disadvantaged families.

Guided by systems theory, this mixed-methods study of 98 families examined parent- and child-reported play, exploration, and leisure activities in relation to family members' socio-emotional well-being. Parents and children completed surveys independently and interviews were conducted with a subset of families. Quantitative findings showed that child report of secure exploration with both parents, and mother report of leisure activities, were associated with some couple and parent–child well-being indicators and nearly all child well-being indicators. Father report of play and leisure activities was associated with more couple and parent–child well-being indicators than mother report and showed some differences in associations with child well-being indicators. Interview data provided examples of how families incorporate play and leisure into their busy lives and the perceived benefits and enjoyment derived from these activities. These findings emphasize the importance of family play and leisure involvement for parents' and children's well-being.

Despite the growing body of literature on how digital technologies impact child well-being, previous research has provided little evidence on recent digital trends. This paper examines the patterns and effects of digital use on child socioemotional well-being across two cohorts of children grown up ten years apart during the ‘digital age’: the 1998 cohort (interviewed in 2007/08) and the 2008 cohort (interviewed in 2017/18). Multivariate linear regression models were conducted for these two cohorts from the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) study, a multi-cohort longitudinal study with rich comparable data on a large sample of 9-year olds (N = 13,203). Results show that (i) in 2017/18 children were more active in digital devices and social media, while in 2007/2008 children spent more time watching TV and adopted less diversified forms of media engagement; (ii) spending more than 3 daily hours on TV/digital activities was associated with significant declines in child socioemotional well-being, while such effects were stronger in 2017/18 than in 2007/08; (iii) media engagement (but not other forms of digital engagement) was associated with moderate declines in socioemotional well-being, both in 2007/08 and in 2017/18; (iv) while children’s media and digital engagement differed by the child gender and socioeconomic background, none of these variables moderated the effects of digital use on children’s socioemotional well-being, neither in 2007/08 nor in 2017/18. Overall, the study reveals persistence, but also some important changes, in recent trends on children’s digital use and its impact on socioemotional well-being in Ireland.

Debt is now a substantial aspect of family finances. Yet, research on how household debt is linked with child development has been limited. We use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort and hierarchical linear models to estimate associations of amounts and types of parental debt (home, education, auto, unsecured/uncollateralized) with child socioemotional well-being. We find that unsecured debt is associated with growth in child behavior problems, whereas this is not the case for other forms of debt. Moreover, the association of unsecured debt with child behavior problems varies by child age and socioeconomic status, with younger children and children from less-advantaged families experiencing larger associations of unsecured debt with greater behavior problems.

Developmental studies have consistently argued for consideration of contextual influences on children's socioemotional well-being. This is particularly true among children of immigrants, who have highly diverse social, cultural, and economic backgrounds. Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten, this study disentangled the variation of socioemotional well-being among children of immigrants in the United States by looking at country of origin and their multifaceted economic experiences. The study first examined the economic lives of children of immigrants by conducting a latent class analysis with 3 dimensions-depth, duration, and income volatility from kindergarten to fifth grade. It further investigated how multifaceted economic experiences shaped the socioemotional perceptions of children of immigrants by considering country of origin. Findings from this study support both the immigrant risk and immigrant paradox perspectives, depending on country of origin, patterns of economic experiences, and the examined socioemotional domain. Children of immigrants generally perceived themselves to have a worse locus of control, self-concept, and internalizing symptoms at eighth grade than their peers of native-born parents. After considering the economic circumstances of these families, the picture was no longer straightforward. Children of South East Asian and East Asian origins reported worse socioemotional well-being than their White peers of native-born parents in chronic near-poor circumstances. Otherwise, most children of immigrants fared as well as their White children of native-born parents under similar economic conditions. Findings underscore the importance of country of origin and economic experiences in accounting for the variations of socioemotional well-being among children of immigrants. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Young children from impoverished backgrounds experience high levels of family and environmental stress, adversely impacting developmental functioning. Early identification provides a pathway to solutions, but many children are never assessed. In addition, the child-serving workforce lacks resources and expertise to use traditional measures. Furthermore, existing measures do not account for the substantial influence of a child's ecology. To bridge these gaps, we developed the Neurodevelopmental Ecological Screening Tool (NEST) and conducted a pilot study (n=60) to test its feasibility for use with caregivers of children ages 3-5 in low-resource settings. We developed an item pool across three domains (child, caregiver, environment), vetted it with experts, and conducted cognitive interviewing with parents (n=15) and case managers (n-10). Simultaneously, we built an online, user-friendly delivery platform. We used a one parameter Item Response Model and a Rasch-based Rating Scale Model (RSM) and fit confirmatory factor analytic (CFA) models to test for unidimensional and construct validity. The results support the feasibility of screening children from low SES populations within low-resource settings using an ecological perspective and supports the work of child-serving paraprofessionals in identifying and addressing risks in the lives of young children.

Many U.S. employees with children work nonstandard hours, yet we know little about the linkages among maternal shift schedules, mothers' and fathers' parenting behaviors, and children's socioemotional outcomes. In a sample of 55 dual-earner families with children age 8 to 14 years and mothers working day versus evening shifts, the authors found that mothers' work schedules are unrelated to their parenting behaviors. However, fathers whose wives work evenings (vs. days) spend more time with children, know more about children's activities, receive more disclosures from children, and have better parenting skills, variables that are inversely associated with children's internalizing, externalizing, and risk-taking behaviors.

Teaching excellence (TE) at the tertiary level has been extensively researched, with student perceptions of its frequency and the educator attributes that comprise it, increasingly important for student retention and learning, and institutional quality and benchmarking purposes. Despite its myriad of issues, student evaluation of teaching instruments (SETs) are the most commonly used proxies for TE. University students enrolled in medicine, nursing and health science courses were surveyed about TE-associated educator attributes before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Students were also surveyed about the frequency of TE they experienced, and this was compared with metrics for associated unit SETs. Students’ 2022 perceptions of the frequency of TE were significantly lower than those for 2017, both overall and based on years of university study. Conversely, the mean 2022 SET was significantly higher than that of 2017, indicating a discordance between the perceived frequency of TE and SETs. Applying a framework with validated TE ‘themes’, we found a significant difference between pre- and post-pandemic values for the overall cohorts and non-first year students’ weightings of educator attributes that best describe TE. No such difference was found for first year students. These results strengthen calls for tertiary institutions to develop more authentic TE criteria, bespoke and dynamic SETs that more accurately reflect TE, and relevant educator professional development that will enhance students’ learning gain and overall university experience. The implementation of such initiatives will be increasingly important in a rapidly changing and more disrupted tertiary environment.

Improving children's lives is high on the UK policy agenda. In this study for a recent birth cohort of UK children we examine how three aspects of parental resources – income, mother's mental well-being and family status – in early childhood enhance or compromise their children's cognitive and behavioural development. As well as examining how these three aspects of parental resources separately and jointly affect children's well-being, we also enquire whether persistent poverty or persistent maternal depression are more deleterious for children's current well-being than periodic episodes of poverty and depression. We find strong associations between poverty and young children's intellectual and behavioural development, and persistent poverty was found to be particularly important in relation to children's cognitive development. Maternal depression (net of other factors) was more weakly related to cognitive development but strongly related to whether children were exhibiting behaviour problems, and persistent depression amplified the situation. Family status, net of other factors (most noticeably poverty), was only weakly associated with children's development.

To investigate how a robot's use of feedback can influence children's engagement and support second language learning, we conducted an experiment in which 72 children of 5 years old learned 18 English animal names from a humanoid robot tutor in three different sessions. During each session, children played 24 rounds in an “I spy with my little eye” game with the robot, and in each session the robot provided them with a different type of feedback. These feedback types were based on a questionnaire study that we conducted with student teachers and the outcome of this questionnaire was translated to three within-design conditions: (teacher) preferred feedback, (teacher) dispreferred feedback and no feedback. During the preferred feedback session, among others, the robot varied his feedback and gave children the opportunity to try again (e.g., “Well done! You clicked on the horse.”, “Too bad, you pressed the bird. Try again. Please click on the horse.”); during the dispreferred feedback the robot did not vary the feedback (“Well done!”, “Too bad.”) and children did not receive an extra attempt to try again; and during no feedback the robot did not comment on the children's performances at all. We measured the children's engagement with the task and with the robot as well as their learning gain, as a function of condition. Results show that children tended to be more engaged with the robot and task when the robot used preferred feedback than in the two other conditions. However, preferred or dispreferred feedback did not have an influence on learning gain. Children learned on average the same number of words in all conditions. These findings are especially interesting for long-term interactions where engagement of children often drops. Moreover, feedback can become more important for learning when children need to rely more on feedback, for example, when words or language constructions are more complex than in our experiment. The experiment's method, measurements and main hypotheses were preregistered.

Introduction Electronic media are an integral part of university students’ academic and personal lives; however, their excessive use may interfere with the cognitive functions critical for learning. Intelligence can be assessed through crystallized intelligence (Gc), which reflects accumulated knowledge, and fluid intelligence (Gf), which is associated with problem solving and adaptability. Also, neurophysiological measurements like the event-related potentials (ERPs), particularly P300, provide high temporal resolution measures of cognitive processing, allowing an assessment of attention (neurophysiological measures) and memory functions. This study hypothesizes that excessive screen time negatively impacts attention, fluid and crystallized intelligence, and academic performance in medical students. Materials and methods A total of 305 second-year medical students from a public university participated in the study (mean age: 20 years). Variables assessed included intelligence, attention, academic trajectory, and screen time. Intelligence was measured using the Shipley-2 test, and screen time was measured using a validated Screen Time Survey. For the neurophysiological measures, a subsample (n=30) underwent ERP recording with the P300 oddball paradigm for neurophysiological analysis. Academic performance was determined from standardized physiology test scores. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 25.0 (2017; IBM Corp., Armonk, New York, United States), GraphPad Prism (Dotmatics, Boston, Massachusetts, United States), and Excel (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, New York, United States) through descriptive and inferential statistics. Results A significant relationship emerged between screen time, cognitive performance, and academic achievement. Participants reported an average daily screen exposure of 7.1 ± 4.3 hours. A negative correlation was identified between screen time and standardized test scores (r = -0.24, p < 0.001), indicating that increased screen use was associated with lower academic performance. Cognitive intelligence assessments revealed that Gf (R² = 0.848) and general cognition (R² = 0.400) were significantly affected, while Gc remained stable (R² = 0.001). Neurophysiological measures showed average P300 latencies of 358.33 ± 45.6 ms and amplitudes of 259.63 ± 61.6 μV. Shorter N100 latencies (86.7 ± 24.6 ms) correlated with better academic performance (r = -0.45, R² = 0.199). Discussion Students with greater screen time exhibited lower standardized exam scores, suggesting that excessive digital exposure may deplete the cognitive resources essential for academic tasks. The decline in fluid and general cognitive intelligence suggests a diminished capacity for problem-solving and adaptability. Neurophysiological markers indicated prolonged latencies and reduced amplitudes of key ERPs (N100, N200, and P300), reflecting impaired attentional control and working memory in students with higher screen exposure. These findings suggest that prolonged screen use contributes to slower and less efficient cognitive processing. Conclusions Excessive screen time, particularly due to recreational electronic media use, negatively affects cognitive performance and academic outcomes in medical students. The observed decline appears to be mediated by deficits in attention and working memory along with a reduction in Gf, which may impair problem-solving skills and adaptability in complex academic settings.

The aim of this project was to make children's activities on digital devices visible, in order to be understood, which could then assist educators to extend these activities, thus potentially increasing children's learning. The purpose of the study was to explore the children's activities as they used a range of digital technologies. The research was framed by two research questions: a) 'what activities do children engage in around digital devices within an early childhood classroom?' and b) 'how do these activities relate to elements of Vygotsky's theorisation about young children's play?' By examining these questions the study, which will inform early childhood education practices through four implications in learning with and through technologies in early childhood settings. Historically, the research literature in early childhood technologies has focused on educators' use of technological devices with a focus on using desktop computers. Researchers exploring digital technology in early childhood education have called for further investigation into the role digital technology plays in the current context. This includes thinking beyond how educators use technologies in the classroom to the implications for children's play, learning and development; and what this might mean for pedagogy and curriculum. This study used a single site, case study approach where the researcher, who was also the educator, along with the children, documented the use of two iPadsREPLACE1, two digital cameras, a FlipREPLACE1 camera and a computer within the kindergarten classroom. Sociocultural theory framed the research, in particular Vygotsky's views on children's play, learning and development. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used for analysing the data collected and the results were then discussed in detail.;The study resulted in four main findings which were: 1) digital devices are supportive cultural tools for fostering social interactions; 2) time is needed to explore the technology; 3) digital devices assist leading activity; and 4) children shift from recording artefacts to recording imaginative episodes. These findings formed the basis of four implications for educators which included: 1) educators need to provide children with the time and knowledge to appropriately use ICT and extend their learning; 2) educators need to plan, provide for and encourage social interactions between children using digital technologies; 3) educators need to develop children's skills as mentors for each other in their ICT use; and 4) educators need to consider and provide apps that encourage imaginative play. This investigation identified the necessity for further research around children's need for time to explore digital devices to assist them in moving from explorative to imaginative behaviours

Our goal was to address the safety of major gynaecologic cancer surgery without routine preoperative COVID-19 testing in the COVID-19 era. The databases of seven gynaecologic cancer centres were searched in order to identify all consecutive gynaecologic cancer patients undergoing major surgery between March 11, 2020 and May 15, 2020 for this retrospective, case-control study. The case group consisted of patients with histopathologically confirmed gynaecologic cancers, and each case was matched with two counterparts who had undergone primary surgery before the COVID-19 pandemic. The case and the control groups were compared in terms of length of hospital stay, admission to the intensive care unit (ICU), intraoperative and postoperative complications. During the study period, 154 women with gynaecologic cancer undergoing major surgery were identified. Although the case group had more co-morbidities compared to the control group (103/154 vs. 178/308, respectively; p = .04), the median length of hospital stays, the rate of ICU admission, intraoperative complication rates and postoperative complication rates were similar in the two groups. Gynaecologic cancer surgery may be performed safely in the COVID-19 era with similar rates of ICU admission, intraoperative and postoperative complications compared to the patients operated before the COVID-19 pandemic. IMPACT STATEMENT What is already known on this subject? Many societies have announced their guidelines about the surgical management of gynaecologic cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, most of them are not evidence-based and mostly on expert opinions. What do the results of this study add? The main findings of this retrospective, case-control study indicate that the short-term (30 day) outcomes of gynaecologic cancer patients undergoing major surgery in the COVID-19 era are similar to those who had been operated before the COVID-19 pandemic. The length of hospital stays, the rates of admission to the ICU, intraoperative and postoperative complications were comparable between women undergoing major gynaecologic cancer surgery in the COVID-19 era and the women who had been operated before the pandemic. What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? We can suggest that definitive surgery may be performed for gynaecologic cancer patients in the COVID-19 era if the resources permit and appropriate precautions such as social distancing, isolation and the use of personal protective equipment are taken.

Do early care and education services improve language development for maltreated children? Evidence from a national child welfare sample