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Category: Project

Description: Our first 1000 days (from conception to two years of age) are a critical window of vulnerability from exposure to stress, socio-economic and health challenges. While the national lockdown saved lives, secondary consequences may impart an acute and potentially enduring influence - on the economic and psychological adjustment of parents, early parent-child interactions and physical growth and cognitive development of infants – well beyond the current crisis. Through a national online web-based questionnaire, we will further our understanding of how (i) access and attitudes towards social, medical and financial support during the COVID-19 pandemic associate with parental stress, anxiety and depression; (ii) COVID-19 related restrictions impact on the depth and breadth of social interactions that young infants experience in the first six months of life and (iii) parental mental health and social interaction experiences mediate physical, social and cognitive development in infants. The purpose of this study is to measure the impact of COVID-19 on expectant and new parents and their infants across the UK so that we can 1) develop an evidence base for future policy to support the adjustment of families in this current crisis and in future public health emergencies, 2) identify those most vulnerable in ‘generation COVID’ who may benefit from early intervention and 3) increase participation, and insight into the experience, of underrepresented regional/socio-economic and ethnic groups across the UK.