Amplification of Racial and Social Inequalities in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Impacts on Child Academic and Psychological Outcomes

Abstract: Children are inherently shaped by the environment in which the live, learn, and play. This proposal to study theimpact of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) virus outbreak on children's development brings together a multidisciplinaryteam of investigators across the country from 6 ECHO Awards, representing 5 cohorts of ~2500 middle childhoodand adolescent youth and the Person-Reported Outcome (PRO) Core). The proposed research develops andtests a novel conceptual model that casts family and community sociodemographic risk as important factors thatshape COVID-19 related school, family, and child hardships and resources that influence child positive health.We propose that school resources (e.g., type and quality of distance learning), family hardships (e.g., financialstrain and technology access), and child emotional support (e.g., connections to peers and family support)combine to predict children's positive health as measured by academic competence and psychological well-being. This ECHO proposal combines both variable-centered and person-centered methodological approachesto generate critical, time-sensitive knowledge on modifiable and actionable factors that can effectively mitigatethe impact of COVID-19 psychosocial hardships on child positive health development. As school districts,communities, and states begin planning for the next stages of economic opening and return from school closuresin the fall, it is imperative to know which children are most vulnerable and at-risk of being left behind; how schoolpolicies and teaching approaches can be best optimized; and what social and emotional supports need to be inplace in order for families and communities to "build back better."