Children’s behavioral outcomes may be worse during remote learning, research shows

New Harvard research shows that educational instability, a hallmark of the pandemic that includes school shutdowns and switching between in-person, hybrid, and remote learning formats, negatively affects children’s social, emotional, and behavioral well-being.

In an online survey of more than 400 families conducted between January to May last year, parents reported that when learning remotely or in a hybrid program, their children exhibited worse behavior, more maladaptive changes and more dysregulation, such as depression and anxiety, than when learning in-person.

Parents felt their children’s behaviors had shifted due to the pandemic’s educational interruptions, as the research shows, suggesting that families need more help coping with the ongoing disruptions they face.