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REVIEW article

Front. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry
Sec. Child Mental Health and Interventions
Volume 3 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/frcha.2024.1415497
This article is part of the Research Topic Exposure to Violence in Children and Youth During COVID-19 and Mental Health Outcomes View all 4 articles

Child Maltreatment During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for Child and Adolescent Mental Health

Provisionally accepted
Hannah McDowell Hannah McDowell 1Sophie Barriault Sophie Barriault 1Tracie O. Afifi Tracie O. Afifi 2,3Elisa Romano Elisa Romano 1Nicole Racine Nicole Racine 1,4*
  • 1 University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
  • 2 University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
  • 3 Max Rady College of Medicine, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
  • 4 Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, Ottawa, Canada

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    As societies worldwide addressed the numerous challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, a troubling concern emerged—the possible rise of child maltreatment, which is a pernicious risk factor for child and adolescent mental health difficulties. This narrative review aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of how the many changes and challenges associated with the pandemic influenced worldwide occurrences of child maltreatment and, subsequently, the mental health of children and adolescents. First, we present the well-established evidence regarding the impact of child maltreatment on the mental health of children and adolescents both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Next, we examine the existing literature on the prevalence of child maltreatment during the pandemic, explanations for conflicting findings, and key mechanisms influencing the prevalence of maltreatment. Using a heuristic model of child maltreatment and its downstream influence on child mental health, we discuss risk and protective factors for maltreatment as well as mechanisms by which maltreatment operates to influence child and adolescent mental health. Finally, based on the accumulated evidence, we provide important recommendations for advancing research on child maltreatment, emphasizing the necessity for routine monitoring of maltreatment exposure at a population level, and discussing the implications for the field of child protection. This comprehensive review aims to contribute to the understanding of the challenges arising from the intersection of the COVID-19 pandemic and child maltreatment, with the goal of informing effective interventions in the domain of child welfare.

    Keywords: maltreatment, COVID-19, Child, Adolescent, Mental Health

    Received: 10 Apr 2024; Accepted: 14 Jun 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 McDowell, Barriault, Afifi, Romano and Racine. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Nicole Racine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.