The most recent report from the Co-SPACE (COVID-19 Supporting Parents, Adolescents, and Children in Epidemics) study highlights that:
- Emotional and restless/attention difficulties (and behaviour difficulties for primary school aged children) were consistently elevated among children and young people from low income households over a month of lockdown compared to those from higher income households, with around two and a half times as many children experiencing significant problems in low income households.
- Parents and carers from low income households reported that their children (aged 4 to 16 years) had higher levels of emotional difficulties, such as feeling unhappy, worried, being clingy and experiencing physical symptoms associated with worry than those from higher income households. Their children were also more fidgety and restless and had greater difficulty paying attention. Those with younger, primary school aged children also reported that their children were experiencing higher levels of behaviour difficulties, including temper tantrums, arguments and not doing what they were being asked to do by adults than those from higher incomes.