Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS FEATURE

The COVID generation: how is the pandemic affecting kids’ brains?

Child-development researchers are asking whether the pandemic is shaping brains and behaviour.
  1. Melinda Wenner Moyer

    1. Melinda Wenner Moyer is a science writer based in New York.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

A teacher wearing a bright pink biosafety suit and face shield teaches numbers to a young girl at home

A teacher in a biosecurity suit gives a lesson to a girl in her home in Cali, Colombia. Credit: Luis Robayo/AFP/Getty

Like many paediatricians, Dani Dumitriu braced herself for the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus when it first surged in her wards. She was relieved when most newborn babies at her hospital who had been exposed to COVID-19 seemed to do just fine. Knowledge of the effects of Zika and other viruses that can cause birth defects meant that doctors were looking out for problems.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 601, 180-183 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00027-4

References

  1. Shuffrey, L. C. et al. JAMA Pediatr. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.5563 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Deoni, S. C. L., Beauchemin, J., Volpe, A., D’Sa, V. & the RESONANCE Consortium. Preprint at medRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.08.10.21261846 (2021).

  3. Zeanah, C. H. et al. Am. J. Psychiatry 166, 777–785 (2009).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Davies, C. et al. Infant Child Dev. 30, e2241 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Engzell, P., Frey, A. & Verhagen, M. D. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 118, e2022376118 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Angrist, N. et al. Int. J. Edu. Dev. 84, 102397 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Tronick, E., Als, H., Adamson, L., Wise, S., Brazleton, T. B. J. Am. Acad. Child Psychiatry 17, 1–13 (1978).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Tronick, E. & Snidman, N. Preprint at SSRN https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3899140 (2021).

  9. Singh, L., Tan, A. & Quinn, P. C. Dev. Sci. 24, e13117 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Ruba, A. L. & Pollak, S. D. PLoS ONE 15, e0243708 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Manning, K. Y. et al. Preprint at medRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.10.04.21264536 (2021).

  12. Hay, R. E. et al. J. Neurosci. 40, 6969–6977 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Holmes, A. J. et al. J. Neurosci. 32, 18087–18100 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Provenzi, L. et al. Dev. Psychopathol. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579421000766 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Simcock, G. et al. Infancy 22, 282–302 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Austin, M.-P. et al. Infant Behav. Dev. 49, 296–309 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Thomason, M. E. JAMA Pediatr. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.5168 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

  • Technician - Senior Technician in Cell and Molecular Biology

    APPLICATION CLOSING DATE: 24.05.2024 Human Technopole (HT) is a distinguished life science research institute founded and supported by the Italian ...

    Milan (IT)

    Human Technopole

  • Postdoctoral Fellow

    The Dubal Laboratory of Neuroscience and Aging at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) seeks postdoctoral fellows to investigate the ...

    San Francisco, California

    University of California, San Francsico

  • Postdoctoral Associate

    Houston, Texas (US)

    Baylor College of Medicine (BCM)

  • Postdoctoral Research Fellow

    Description Applications are invited for a postdoctoral fellow position at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health, to participate...

    Toronto (City), Ontario (CA)

    Sinai Health

  • Postdoctoral Research Associate - Surgery

    Memphis, Tennessee

    St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (St. Jude)

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links