Glynn Davis Luby 2021

• Quoted text from the Methods section of the article on the next line:

Study participants included 169 mother-child pairs who are part of an ongoing longitudinal study examining prenatal and early life influences and child development conducted in Southern California (CA; N =203). An online survey was initially distributed on May 5, 2020 and those mothers who completed the survey by June 9, 2020 were included in the analyses (N =169).

• Translation on the next line:

This study included 169 mothers and their children who are part of a long-term study in Southern California about how life experiences affect child development, even before the baby is born and during early childhood. The survey was sent out on May 5, 2020, and even though there were 203 families at first, only the 169 mothers who completed the online survey by June 9, 2020 were included in this research.

• Quoted text from the Introduction of the article on the next line:

Within this context, the study had two goals: First, to investigate mental health symptoms in American preschool children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, to test the hypothesis that maintenance of family routines serves as a protective factor for children’s mental health during the pandemic crisis.

• Translation on the next line:

The study had two main goals. First, it was to see how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the mental health of preschool children in the United States. Second, it was to check if keeping regular family routines, like bedtime or mealtimes, helped protect children’s mental health during the pandemic.

• Quoted text from the Results section in the article on the next line:

In sum, close to two thirds (64%) of mothers reported an increase in externalizing behaviours in at least one behaviour category since the start of the pandemic.

Notably, the association between family routines and child depressive symptoms remained statistically significant when the contributions of maternal psychological distress (depressive symptoms and perceived stress) were covaried (Table 3, Models 1b and 1c).

• Translation on the next line:

Overall, about two-thirds or 64% of the mothers said their child showed more bad or disruptive behaviours in at least one area since the pandemic started.

Importantly, the link between keeping family routines and children’s depression symptoms was still strong even after the researchers took into account the mothers’ stress and depression levels.

• Quoted text from the Discussion section of the article on the next line:

In summary, our findings in a 2020 cohort of preschool children indicate that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of these children may be ameliorated by the presence of family routines.

Although the mental health of children does appear to be suffering due to the pandemic and the long-term sequelae are likely to be significant, family routines represent one resilience-promoting factor with the potential to mitigate these adverse influences.

• Translation on the next line:

Overall, the study found that for preschool children in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic hurt their mental health, but having regular family routines helped make the impact less serious.

Even though children’s mental health has been affected and the long-term effects could be serious, family routines are helpful in supporting kids and reducing some of the negative effects.

Future research should study children over a longer period of time to see if family routines continue to protect their mental health as they grow older. Researchers could also study which specific routines (like bedtime, meals, or family activities) are the most helpful, and how parents can be supported to keep these routines during stressful

I understood the research method, the purpose of the study, and the results, but I found it difficult to read and fully understand all of the charts and statistical symbols. Some of the graphs and numbers were confusing and I need help from Google to understand them.