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February 8, 2026Open Access

Trajectories of emotional and behavioral problems in young children during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal study

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Authors

MLMarkus Andreas LandoltNRNoëmi RutherUniversity of ZurichNSNathan L. StrebelUniversity of Zurich

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Overview

Longitudinal study identifies emotional and behavioral problem trajectories in children, suggesting targeted interventions are necessary.

Key Points

  • The study aimed to explore how emotional and behavioral problems in young children changed over time during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Conducted four assessments through anonymous online surveys filled out by parents.
  • Involved 527 to 888 parents of children aged 1-6 years from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland.
  • Used the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL/1.5-5) to measure emotional and behavioral problems.
  • Assessed predictors including sociodemographic data, COVID-19 exposure, child worries, and parental mental health.
  • Clinically significant behavioral problems in children ranged from 4.2% to 11.5%, above the 2% normative rate.
  • Identified two trajectory classes (low-symptom and high-symptom) for anxiety and affective problems.
  • For oppositional-defiant problems, three classes (low, medium, high-symptom) were noted.
  • Parental mental health and child worries significantly predicted high-symptom trajectories.

Cite This Study

Landolt et al. (2025) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/698827570fc35cd7a8846084https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-290692
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Also Consider

Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context:

  1. 1Trajectories of child emotional and behavioural difficulties before and during the COVID‐19 pandemic in a longitudinal UK cohort2025
  2. 2Anxiety and depressive symptoms of young children during the COVID-19 pandemic: Developmental trajectories and risk factors.2025
  3. 3The trajectory of depression and anxiety among children and adolescents over two years of the COVID-19 pandemic2024 · 2 citations
  4. 4The course of children's mental health symptoms during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic2024 · 8 citations
  5. 5Trajectories and correlates of mental health among urban, school-age children during the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal study2024 · 2 citations