Even less visible: disadvantaged children in disadvantaged countries

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we have a quick look at the profile of developmental research in terms of its study samples, and then turn our attention to the findings of research on the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, suggesting a notable increase in the number of people experiencing significant economic difficulties and a widening gap between the wealthy and the poor. While this is obviously a cause of concern for scientists, practitioners and policymakers, we suggest that the digital revolution which accelerated even more with the COVID-19 pandemic may open new ways to support healthy development and psychological wellbeing in socio-economically or developmentally disadvantaged populations. Moreover, acceleration of the digital transformation may also allow us to study the human mind and behaviour in countries economically categorized as ‘under-developed’ or ‘developing’, and under-represented in psychological science. Taking the recent advancements as a base, we contemplate the possibility that major technological changes facilitated by the recent COVID-19 pandemic might allow us to meet the scientific and applied goals of psychology more successfully.

KEYWORDS:

• Developing countries
• disadvantaged children
• psychological wellbeing
• digitalization
• child development

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ Developmental Psychology (DP), Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (JPSP), Journal of Abnormal Psychology (JAP), Journal of Family Psychology (JFP), Health Psychology (HP), and Journal of Educational Psychology (JEP).

² Child Development, Developmental Psychology, Developmental Science.