Understanding the Impact of Home Confinement on Children and Young People with ADHD and ASD During the COVID-19 Pandemic
This paper investigated whether the mental health of children and young people with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and/or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were differentially affected by COVID-19. Clinical group’s and non-clinical reference group’s mental health problems and pandemic anxiety scores were collected and compared at two time points during the first UK national lockdown between March and June 2020.
Key Findings:
- At the start of the pandemic, young children and people with ADHD and/or ASD had greater mental health problems than the reference group.
- One month later, young children and people with ASD showed small but significant improvements in their mental health symptoms, compared with the reference group.
- Young children with ASD experienced a worsening of disease anxiety.
- Young children and people with ADHD experienced a deterioration in functional impairment.