2026-09-02 テキサス大学オースチン校（UT Austin）
＜関連情報＞
- https://news.utexas.edu/2026/09/02/most-children-rebounded-after-covid-19-disruptions-study-finds/
- https://academic.oup.com/chidev/article/97/5/1453/8763937?login=false
新型コロナウイルス感染症のパンデミックが子どもたちにもたらしたこと、そしてもたらさなかったこと：特集記事のご紹介
What the COVID pandemic did—and did not do—To children: Introduction to the special section
Anna D Johnson ,Gabriela Livas ,Seth D Pollak
Child Development Published:18 August 2026
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1093/chidev/aacag153
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted multiple aspects of children’s and families’ lives, raising concerns about its developmental consequences. Early research, much of it conducted during periods of school closure, social restriction, and economic instability, documented declines in academic performance, changes in behavior, and elevated mental health concerns. However, these findings were typically based on cross-sectional or short-term data, limiting their ability to distinguish transient disruption from enduring developmental change. Another interpretive concern is conflating pre-existing risks with pandemic-induced changes. As a result, key questions remain about the magnitude, persistence, and developmental specificity of pandemic-related effects.
Continued speculation about what the pandemic did—and did not do—to children has also increased interest in knowing how these effects vary across domains, age groups, and social and cultural contexts, and whether observed changes are lasting or more ephemeral. Equally important is understanding where effects were limited or absent, and why some children appeared to recover while others did not. Addressing these questions requires longitudinal data that can track within-person change over time and clarify how pre-existing risks and protective factors shaped children’s responses to pandemic conditions. That was the goal when we called for submissions to this special section: in response, we received 136 letters of intent, from which we invited 36 manuscripts for submission.
The 17 accepted studies in this special section take up these questions using a longer temporal lens than the rapid-response research that dominated early inquiry. Drawing on longitudinal, repeated-measures designs with pre-pandemic baseline data, these contributions move beyond cross-sectional snapshots to trace developmental trajectories over time. They examine which early disruptions persisted, which domains showed recovery, and how these processes varied across diverse populations that have been underrepresented in prior work. Collectively, this body of research offers a more methodologically rigorous and globally representative account of children’s development in the lingering shadow of COVID-19, advancing a more nuanced understanding of both vulnerability and adaptation and challenging the predominant narrative of “learning loss.”
