Relationship between Pain, Physical Activity, Screen Time and Age among Young Children during the COVID-19 Pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries implemented restrictions, social distancing measures, and lockdowns to limit the spread of the disease. These lockdowns have affected children's screen time (ST), pain, and physical activity (PA) levels. The present study aimed to explore the relatio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Healthcare (Basel) 2024-08, Vol.12 (16), p.1635
Main Authors: Basuodan, Reem M, Gmmash, Afnan, Alghadier, Mshari, Albesher, Reem A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aerobics
Analysis
Caregivers
Children
Children & youth
COVID-19
COVID-19 pandemic
Curfews
Epidemics
Exercise
Exercise for children
Families & family life
Health aspects
Influence
Jumping rope
Likert scale
Mental health
Pain
Pain in children
Pandemics
physical activity
Physical fitness
Physical fitness for children
Saudi Arabia
Screen time
Social distancing
Social networks
Technology application
Teenagers
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Summary:During the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries implemented restrictions, social distancing measures, and lockdowns to limit the spread of the disease. These lockdowns have affected children's screen time (ST), pain, and physical activity (PA) levels. The present study aimed to explore the relationships between ST, pain, age, and PA before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The caregivers of 329 children (median age = 8 years) filled out an online self-reported survey about the children's PA, ST, and pain before, during, and after the COVID-19 curfew. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was used to explore the associations between these variables. After the curfew, pain that existed before the pandemic had a weak negative relationship with PA intensity (-0.11, = 0.04) and a weak positive relationship with ST (r = +0.12, = 0.04). There was a strong positive relationship between ST in all time periods ( > 0.01). PA and ST had a weak negative relationship ( > 0.05) during the curfew and after the curfew but not before the COVID-19 pandemic. Age had a weak positive correlation with ST in all time periods ( > 0.01). In addition, ST was affected by the curfew. The study findings indicated that young children had longer ST during the curfew and after the curfew compared with before the curfew. Increasing PA could lessen children's ST, which could, in turn, increase the probability that their general pain would decrease.
ISSN:2227-9032
2227-9032
DOI:10.3390/healthcare12161635