Children's vision of the covid-19 pandemic: gender-specific views of older preschoolers and younger schoolchildren

Introduction. This article presents the results of the research project "Children's Vision of the COVID-19 pandemic" implemented in 2020. According to many experts, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to negative consequences for the physical (somatic), psychic and psychological and the health of the population. The works of foreign and domestic authors state the facts of a number of negative psychological effects of an emotional, mental and behavioral nature. However, against the background of the available research, a significant gap is found, which concerns the children's version of the perception of the situation of the pandemic and forced isolation, and above all its gender specificity in relation to the stage of early ontogenesis – senior preschool and primary school age.

Materials and Methods. To collect the actual data, a projective verbal method of writing a story on the theme "The Tale of the Coronavirus" was used. In total, 138 stories were collected (68 of them were composed by girls and 70 by boys), the content analysis of which was carried out through the open coding procedure. Comparative gender analysis of the texts of the stories was conducted in seven main categories: "characteristics of the coronavirus", "origin of the coronavirus", "current (frustrated) needs", "resources for overcoming difficulties", "emotions", "key events" and "gender of the characters".

Results. The data obtained showed the predominantly negative nature of children's views of the coronavirus, pronounced discomfort in most of them caused by frustration of the needs for security, freedom, positive emotions and social contacts, the predominance of a mostly anxious emotional background of the perception of the pandemic situation with a predominance of fear, as well as a special emphasis on such resources for overcoming difficulties as compliance with preventive measures and hygiene rules, medical care and restriction of activity. At the same time, the gender specificity of children's ideas about the COVID-19 pandemic was found, which consists in a more pronounced orientation towards people of their own sex, emphasizing their own role in solving the problem and focusing on active resistance to the threat in boys and focusing on the emotional side of events, emphasizing the role of others and waiting for salvation from outside in girls.

Discussion and Conclusions. According to the results of the study, it is concluded that the content of ideas about the COVID-19 pandemic and self-isolation of girls and boys of senior preschool and primary school age, along with general trends, has a gender specificity, which reflects the results of differentiated gender socialization prevailing at the stages of early ontogenesis, based on the tradition of gender polarization.

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