As the first cases of COVID-19 reached the shores of the United Kingdom, the government imposed a national lockdown to protect public health. After schools closed, young people suddenly faced a radically restricted lifestyle, one usually poor in social experiences like interactions with peers. Given the importance of such experiences during development, there was widespread concern about how lockdown might have affected children. This study was one of the first to search for direct evidence that the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown negatively affected child mental health. Using assessments completed by caregivers and teachers, the team re-evaluated the mental and emotional wellbeing of a group of children that they had been following since before the pandemic. The team found that children tended to show worse mental health after the beginning of lockdown. While trajectories were varied, with some children experiencing better mood than before, there was an overall increase in depressive symptoms with a medium-to-large effect size. In light of these results, the UK will likely need to allocate more resources for child and adolescent mental health as it emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic

Citation: Bignardi G, Dalmaijer ES, Anwyl-Irvine AL, et al. Longitudinal increases in childhood depression symptoms during the COVID-19 lockdown. Archives of Disease in Childhood Published Online First: 09 December 2020. doi:10.1136/archdischild-2020-320372