Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Oct 4:40:e2020385.
doi: 10.1590/1984-0462/2022/40/2020385. eCollection 2021.

Social isolation and its impact on child and adolescent development: a systematic review

[Article in English, Portuguese]
Isabelle Lina de Laia Almeida  1 , Jaqueline Ferraz Rego  1 , Amanda Carvalho Girardi Teixeira  1 , Marília Rodrigues Moreira  1
Affiliations

Social isolation and its impact on child and adolescent development: a systematic review

[Article in English, Portuguese]
Isabelle Lina de Laia Almeida et al. Rev Paul Pediatr. .

Abstract
in English, Portuguese

Objective: This study aims to analyze the effects of social isolation on children's and teenagers' development, with emphasis on the possible impacts over their physical and mental health.

Data source: Review of the literature following the standards of PRISMA using the SciELO, LILACS and PubMed databases. The following key-words were used: "social isolation" and "child development", "quarantine" and "adolescent development" according to the Medical Subject Headings (MESH) and their translation to the Portuguese. Studies in English, Portuguese and Spanish from inception were included.

Data synthesis: 519 studies were screened and 12 were included in the systematic review. Five of those focused the psychology and social issues, two of them the effects of pandemics on these issues; four studies reported on impacts on general health and two consequences over the hypothalamus- hypophysis - adrenal axis and the cognitive and social development.

Conclusions: The review shows a strong association between social isolation and anxiety and depression in children and adolescents. Social isolation leads to higher levels of cortisol and worse cognitive development. Therefore, the mental and physical health of children and adolescents need a careful follow up by health professionals during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objetivo:: Analisar os efeitos do isolamento social para o desenvolvimento de crianças e adolescentes, considerando consequências em médio e longo prazos, e entender possíveis impactos sobre a saúde mental e física.

Fontes de dados:: Revisão sistemática da literatura seguindo os parâmetros da lista Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) nas bases de dados Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde (LILACS) e PubMed. Os descritores utilizados foram “social isolation” AND “child development”, “quarantine” AND “child development”, “social isolation” AND “adolescent development”, “quarantine” AND “adolescent development” de acordo com o Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) e seus equivalentes para a língua portuguesa, conforme os Descritores em Ciências da Saúde (DeCS). Incluíram-se artigos originais em inglês, português e espanhol, sem delimitação temporal.

Síntese dos dados:: Identificaram-se 519 referências, e, após critérios de inclusão e exclusão, 12 artigos foram analisados. Cinco abordaram a questão psicossocial (sendo dois sobre os efeitos das pandemias), quatro sobre os impactos na saúde em geral, dois sobre consequências no eixo hipotálamo-hipófise-adrenal e um sobre o desenvolvimento cognitivo e social.

Conclusões:: Os artigos revisados evidenciaram forte relação entre isolamento social e maior incidência de sentimentos como ansiedade e depressão na população de crianças e adolescentes. Além disso, identificaram-se aumento nos níveis de cortisol e piora no desenvolvimento cognitivo dessa faixa etária. Logo, o acompanhamento da saúde mental e física desses jovens por profissionais da saúde deve estar presente durante e após a pandemia.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interests

The authors declare there is no conflict of interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Flowchart of the review.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Organização Pan-Americana da Saúde [homepage on the Internet] OMS afirma que COVID-19 é agora caracterizada como pandemia. Brasília, DF: OPAS; 2020. [[cited 2020 Mar 11]]. Available from: https://www.paho.org/bra/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=61....
    1. Zhejiang University Newsroom [homepage on the Internet] Handbook of COVID-19: prevention and treatment officially launched. China: Zhejiang University Newsroom; 2020. [[cited 2020 Mar 3]]. Available from: http://www.zju.edu.cn/english/2020/0323/c19573a1987520/page.htm.
    1. Saurabh K, Ranjan S. Compliance and psychological impact of quarantine in children and adolescents due to covid-19 pandemic. Indian J Pediatr. 2020;87:532–536. doi: 10.1007/s12098-020-03347-3. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Holmes EA, O’Connor RC, Perry VH, Tracey I, Wessely S, Arseneault L, et al. Multidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemic: a call for action for mental health science. Lancet Psychiatry. 2020;7:547–560. doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30168-1. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Jiao WY, Wang LN, Liu J, Fang SF, Jiao FY, Pettoello-Mantovani M, et al. Behavioral and emotional disorders in children during the COVID-19 epidemic. J Pediatr. 2020;221:264–266. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2020.03.013. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types