Children’s indoor and outdoor play as potential correlates of mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran: a brief report on national survey

ABSTRACT

Over the past 16 months, Iranian children have had their schools closed. Prolonged COVID-19-related restrictions and limited play activities can have significant mental health consequences in children. Using a cross-sectional design, a sample of Iranian parents (n = 1182) of children aged between 5 and 11 years completed an online survey including: Children's Play Scale (CPS), Positive and Negative Affect Schedule Short Form (I-PANAS-SF), and the Strength and Difficulties Questionarie (SDQ). Parents reported that their child spent significantly longer time playing outside at home and inside at home than anywhere else. Children were also reported to spend the minimum number of hours at indoor play centres, near water, green spaces, and playgrounds. Compared to the pre-COVID-19 context, significant declines in outdoor play activities during the pandemic were reported for 83% of children. Findings revealed that there is a significant but small negative correlation between mental health difficulties and total CPS scores (r = −.427, p < .0001). Correlations of CPS scores with Positive and Negative affect were weak but significant (r = .211, and r = −.294, respectively; p < .0001). Results indicate that it is necessary to find strategies to increase children's outdoor play activities, especially when they return to their schools with wider-spread social and emotional needs than before.

KEYWORDS:

• Indoor play
• outdoor play
• physical activity
• mental health
• children
• COVID-19

Acknowledgement

We wish to thank the participants of this study without whom the study would not have been accomplished. MR designed the study and led data collection. MR did the statistical analysis and GA interpreted findings. MR, GA, and GQ wrote the first draft of the article. GA and AP provided support in editing the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

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

Data availability statement

The research materials can be accessed by contacting the corresponding author. At the end of the study, the dataset will be made open access.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mohsen Rajabi

Mohsen Rajabi is an Associate Researcher at the Institute for Connected Communities, University of East London and a postgraduate student in the Department of Psychology, University of Tehran. His research interest is in Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Developmental Psychology. He is particularly interested in prevention and screening of mental health problems in children and adolescents.

G. Ali Afrooz

G. Ali Afrooz is Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the Department of Psychology, University of Tehran. He is nationally and internationally recognised by his empirical works on children with special needs. His journal articles, books and book chapters reflect his interest in child and family psychology and ASD, focusing in particular on family-based interventions. His is also president of Asian Federation of World Council for Psychotherapy.

Gulfisha Qureshi

Gulfisha Qureshi is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Psychology and Mental Health, Gautam Budhha University (GBU), Greater Noida, India. She is mainly interested in Health Psychology, Social Psychology, and Quality of Life.

André Pombo

André Pombo is a Ph.D. student in Human Kinetics in the Faculty of Human Kinetics, University of Lisbon. Assistant Invited Professor at the Lisbon School of Education from Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon, his main research interests focus the areas of Motor Competence and Physical Activity.