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Closed Schools, Emotional-Behavioral Issues, and Psychological Wellbeing of Children during and post-COVID-19 era: A Literature Review
Sonia Mukhtar, Shamim Mukhtar
Abstract:
School closures during COVID-19 disrupted children’s routines, learning, and social contexts, with implications for emotional-behavioral functioning and psychological wellbeing. To synthesize published evidence on how school closures during and after COVID-19 affected children’s emotional-behavioral outcomes and to outline an evidence-informed framework for psychosocial support. We conducted a systematic literature review of English-language, peer-reviewed articles indexed in PubMed, EMBASE, Google Scholar, and Elsevier (2020–2022) using terms such as “COVID-19,” “school closure,” “children’s mental health,” and “psychological wellbeing.” Inclusion and exclusion criteria were predefined. Convergent themes across studies included routine disruption, social isolation, heightened stress and anxiety, adjustment difficulties, conduct problems, attention deficits, and negative emotions, often exacerbated by mis/disinformation, reduced social contact, and family financial strain. The synthesis informed a practical framework to guide prevention and response for parents, schools, social workers, mental-health practitioners, and policymakers. School closures contributed to notable psychosocial burdens for children during and after COVID-19. The proposed framework offers actionable, stakeholder-specific strategies to support psychological health in present and future disruptions.
Keywords:
COVID-19, School closure, Children, Emotional-behavioral, outcomes, Wellbeing, Interventions.
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