Purpose
In May 2020 Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) surveyed around 2,500 cohort children during the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 outbreak in Aotearoa New Zealand. This survey was one of the largest conducted worldwide to examine children’s health, wellbeing, and education experiences during the pandemic. The survey was completed online by GUiNZ cohort children aged 10 and 11, resulting in two reports which canvas health, mental wellbeing, family life, school satisfaction, device use and screen time, and connectedness. These reports compared the findings to previous findings when the same children were approximately eight years old.
Methodology
Health and Wellbeing survey
2.1 Study design
A cross-sectional survey design was utilised. Children were eligible if: the person who had completed the “Mother Questionnaire” at the most recent DCW. the child had taken part in had not withdrawn from the GUiNZ study prior to May 2020; this person had a contact email address; and the child was living in New Zealand at the time of survey distribution. Children whose caregivers had requested that all communications be in Te Reo Māori were ineligible for the survey (n=11), as translation of the survey was unfortunately not possible given time constraints.
2.2 Data collection
Email invitations to participate in the survey were generated from the Qualtrics® digital platform and sent to the person who had completed the “Mother questionnaire” at the most recent DCW the child had taken part in (and had not withdrawn prior to May 2020 and had a contact email address). The invitation included an individualised link to the survey, which directed them to a web-based online survey accessible on all devices (computer, tablet, phone). The front page of the survey described the purpose of the questionnaire and gave children the opportunity to accept or decline to participate. Children could complete the survey independently or receive help from a family member if required. To increase compliance with survey completion, a general media campaign promoting the survey to GUiNZ participants was run whilst the survey was live. While koha are typically offered to participants as part of main data collection waves, this was not possible for the COVID-19 Wellbeing Survey.
2.3 Survey questions
The COVID-19 Wellbeing Survey consisted of 46 questions in total (see Appendices A and B). Questions were not compulsory, and children could progress to the next section of the questionnaire if they wished to skip any section. The questionnaire asked children about their household ‘bubbles’, feelings, experiences, activities, home and family life, school, current health, media and screen time, connectedness, depressive and anxiety symptoms, and food and drink. This report focuses on the questions about current health and mental wellbeing.
2.4 Data analyses
Analyses were undertaken using R (version 4.0 and 4.0.2), R studio and Excel (version 2002 and 2016). All statistical analyses and resulting code for this report have been peer reviewed by an independent member of the GUiNZ Biostatistics team (not involved in the COVID-19 Wellbeing Survey). Standard summary statistics are used to report survey responses across questions pertaining to current health, depression, and anxiety, according to potential predictors of these outcomes (See Appendix A for further detail). A strength of having a longitudinal dataset is the ability to undertake analyses that consider the contribution of early-life experiences for life during COVID-19. Where possible we have approached the longitudinal analyses with the aim of comparing similar measures across time and identifying earlier experiences that are predictive of health, depression, and anxiety during COVID-19.
The following sets of covariates have been considered simultaneously for each multivariate model:
- Socio-demographics (gender, prioritized ethnicity, socio-economic deprivation, maternal education, maternal age, and rurality)
- Predictors of depression and anxiety in children (body size, number of hours of sleep per night, number of times child usually wakes in the night, number of adverse events experienced, maternal depression and oncerns about child health).
- Covariates from the COVID-19 Wellbeing Survey (number of people and essential workers in the bubble, number of regular positive events, connectedness during lockdown, school attendance and material wellbeing concerns)
In addition, the outcome measure at eight years has also been considered as a potential covariate for the cross-sectional multivariate models.
Education Survey
2.1 Study Design
A cross-sectional survey design was utilised. Children were eligible if: the person who had completed the “Mother Questionnaire” at the most recent data collection wave (DCW) the child had taken part in had not withdrawn from the GUiNZ study prior to May 2020; this person had a contact email address; and the child was living in Aotearoa New Zealand at the time of survey distribution. Children whose caregivers had requested that all communications be in Te Reo Māori were ineligible for the survey (n=11), as translation of the survey was unfortunately not possible given time constraints.
2.2 Data Collection
Email invitations to participate in the survey were generated from the Qualtrics® digital platform and sent to the person who had completed the “Mother Questionnaire” at the most recent DCW the child had taken part in (and had not withdrawn prior to May 2020 and had a contact email address). The invitation included an individualised link to the survey, which directed them to a web-based online survey accessible on all devices (computer, tablet, phone). The front page of the survey described the purpose of the questionnaire and gave children the opportunity to accept or decline to participate. Children could complete the survey independently or receive help from a family member if required. To increase compliance with survey completion a media release was issued, as well as a more targeted campaign promoting the survey to GUiNZ participants via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, the Growing Up website and participant e-newsletter. While koha are typically offered to participants as part of main data collection waves, this was not possible for the COVID-19 Wellbeing Survey.
2.3 Survey Questions
The COVID-19 Wellbeing Survey consisted of 46 questions in total (see Appendix B). Questions were not compulsory, and children could progress to the next section of the questionnaire if they wished to skip any section. The questionnaire asked children about their household ‘bubbles’, feelings, experiences, activities, home and family life, school, current health, media and screen time, connectedness, depressive and anxiety symptoms, and food and drink.
This report focuses on data related to questions about: COVID-19 “bubbles”, experiences, activities, family life, school, media use and screen time, and connectedness.
2.4 Data Analyses
Analyses were undertaken using R (version 4.0.5), RStudio, and RMarkdown. All statistical analyses and resulting code for this report have been peer reviewed by an independent member of the GUiNZ Biostatistics team (not involved in the study).
Standard summary statistics are used to report survey responses across questions pertaining to COVID-19 ‘bubbles’, experiences and activities, family life, school satisfaction, current health, media use and screen time, and connectedness. Many of the summary statistics are also stratified by ethnic and sociodemographic subgroups.
A strength of having a longitudinal dataset is the ability to undertake analyses that consider the contribution of early-life experiences for life during COVID-19. Where possible we have approached the longitudinal analyses with the aim of comparing similar measures across time and identifying earlier experiences that are predictive of wellbeing during COVID-19.
Key Results
Health and Wellbeing survey
Key findings:
- Overall, 83% of children reported ‘very good’ to ‘excellent’ health during COVID-19 Alert Levels 2-3, and approximately 60% had no symptoms associated with depression or anxiety.
- There was an increase in the number of children reporting symptoms related to depression, compared to when they were eight years of age.
- Most children (88%) felt supported by their family in lockdown, and nearly 80% said they had a ‘good time’ with their family.
- Māori and Pasifika children had significantly lower depression and anxiety scores, compared with European children. Researchers attribute this to greater family connection.
- Around 40% of children displayed symptoms of depression and anxiety. These children were more likely to be:
- girls;
- children who were always or often worried about how much money their family had;
- those who had had fewer positive experiences at Alert Level 4; and
- those with existing wellbeing and developmental concerns.
- Nearly half (45%) of children surveyed felt they did not have someone they could talk to regularly about their feelings in lockdown.
- Children who were less connected to friends and family during Alert Level 4 were more likely to report poorer overall health status compared to children who felt more connected.
Education Survey
Key findings:
- Two-thirds (64%) of children reported continuing to feel connected to their school or kura during the Level 3 and Level 2 periods.
- Most children (84%) reported that people in their bubble were involved in their schoolwork several times a week or more.
- Nearly three-quarters of children reported less school satisfaction at the time of the survey compared with school satisfaction reported at eight-years of age.
- More than two-thirds (67%) of children used devices every day for school or homework, with the average time spent in front of screens on weekdays being nearly five hours.
- Children living in areas with the least socioeconomic deprivation reported the highest screen time during the weekdays (five hours per day).
- YouTube was the most popular app used (76% of children) and there was a high use of apps with 13+ restrictions even though children were aged 10 and 11.
- Screen time increased markedly among children compared to when they were aged eight. Much of this increase may be attributed to most schoolwork moving to online delivery during the lockdown period. Increased screen time hours are consistent with figures observed in Australian children of a similar age, so may be typical of screen use at this life stage.