The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted families with young children (age 0-5). Using a subset of data from the randomized clinical trial of an integrated, preventive parenting model, Smart Beginnings (SB), this study examined associations between COVID-19-related school disruptions in early childhood education (ECE) and children's early elementary school outcomes. A secondary, exploratory aim sought to determine whether SB attenuated these relations. Path analyses demonstrated that school disruptions in ECE were associated with lower literacy skills at age 6 in letter-word identification (β = −.32, p < .01) and phonemic decoding (β = −.26, p < .05), but not for math or oral language skills. School disruptions in ECE were also related to increased internalizing behaviour in children (β = .34, p < .01), with a trend for increased externalizing behaviour (β = .22, p < .10). There was no significant moderation by SB intervention group. Implications for future school disruptions and acute stressors more broadly, as well as the role of preventive interventions, are discussed.
Miller et al. (Tue,) studied this question.