Risk and Protective Factors Affecting Children's Socioemotional Skills in the First Year Post-Pandemic

For two years, children’s everyday life experiences were significantly disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Previous research has suggested that these disruptions had a negative impact on children’s socioemotional skills and development. The main aims of this study were to explore children’s socioemotional skills in the first year after all restrictions were lifted and to explore which individual, family and school factors predicted their socioemotional skills in the Summer of 2022. Children in Reception and KS1 were assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in the Spring and Summer of 2022. Children’s home learning environment (HLE) and parent/carer wellbeing were assessed through an online questionnaire. Children’s demographics and their school’s characteristics were obtained through a governmental database. Results showed that most children had SDQ scores in the range expected for their age at both timepoints. A further analysis showed that internalising scores in the summer were predicted by children’s scores in the spring term, the percentage of children eligible for free school meals (FSM) in a school, the percentage of children with Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in a school, HLE, age, SEND status, ethnicity and parental occupation. A similar analysis showed that externalising scores in the summer were predicted by scores in spring, SEND status, ethnicity and eligibility for FSM. These results suggest that while most children were showing the socioemotional skills expected for their age, some children are more vulnerable than others. Importantly, the findings suggest which factors might present a risk to children’s socioemotional wellbeing.