Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Development of Children’s Executive Functions: Implications for School- Based Interventions

Abstract

The pandemic of COVID-19 has had a significant impact on children’s lives. Worldwide, there has been evidence of a decline in children's mental health, well-being, and quality of life. Few studies, however, have reported the pandemic's impact on children's cognitive functioning. Executive Functions (EFs) are a set of high-order cognitive functions involved in behavior and emotions self-regulation. EFs are powerful predictors of school performance, child’s well-being and health. During crisis and disaster, EFs are critical resources to cope with unusual and complex situations, and to find novel solutions to problems. Because of EFs’ extensive growth, there are many time periods during which experience has the greatest effect on brain development. Therefore, EFs are among the cognitive systems that are most vulnerable to environmental stress. As a result, children's emotional distress has been related to concentration and memory problems, difficulties managing impulses and emotions, and difficulties in planning ahead. Recent research has found executive dysfunction in children and adolescents during pandemic. Adopting an ecological contextual model, this study aimed to identify factors associated to pandemic that may affect children's performance and development of EFs, as well as, to propose a set of evidence-based strategies for teachers to assist children manage stress and promote EFs during crisis. Peer-reviewed academic articles, books, and web resources published between 2010 and 2023 were chosen for review in this study. As a result, child stress, family stress, school closure, changes in child-teacher interactions, and unhealthy habits are highlighted as potential factors influencing child EF development. In response to the Sustainable Development Goals agenda, a set of strategies was developed that may be easily included into the school curriculum. Creating school-based interventions to develop students' EFs is one approach to improve children's crisis-response resources.