埼玉県A市下の認可保育所において、COVID-19流行前から在籍しCOVID-19流行を経験した2コホート（パンデミック前に1歳児クラスに在籍し3歳児点でパンデミックを経験した447名、パンデミック前に3歳児クラスに在籍し5歳時点でパンデミックを経験した440名）とパンデミックを経験しなかったコホートの発育評価（KIDS乳幼児発達スケール）を縦断的に分析することで、COVID-19が子どもの発育に与えた影響を検討した。その結果、5歳時点でパンデミックを経験した幼児は、経験しなかったコホートの幼児と比較して4.55か月発育が遅れたことが分かった。一方より年齢が若いコホートでは、COVID-19の流行と発育の遅れとの関係は見られなかった。また、COVID-19の流行前と比較して、パンデミックの経験後では発育状況の個人差が大きくなっていた。年齢が若いコホートでは良好な保育の質が発育の遅れに対する防御因子として作用したことも示唆された。また、年齢が高いコホートでは親の抑うつ状態が発育の遅れと関連していた。これらのことから、パンデミックが子どもの発育に与えるネガティブな影響を定量的に評価するとともに、親や保育所など子どもを取り巻く環境が保護的に作用できるよう支援する方策について検討することも重要であることが考えられた。
またコロナが起こる以前の成人双生児の行動データと脳活動の状態を現在と比較するために、過去に収録したVHSビデオの電子データ化、ならびにMRI脳画像の再分析をおこなった。さらに成人双生児の成育歴および何らかの分野での専門家の生活歴の比較のための聞き取りインタビューを実施した
これらの研究成果の一部は、日本発達心理学会、ならびに九州大学における教育と社会の生物学的基盤に関する研究会において発表を行った。
Two cohorts enrolled before the COVID-19 epidemic and experienced the COVID-19 epidemic at a licensed nursery school in "A" City, Saitama Prefecture (447 children enrolled in the 1-year-old class before the pandemic and experienced the longitudinally analyzing the developmental assessment (KIDS Infant Development Scale) of a cohort that had not experienced a pandemic (440 children previously enrolled in a 3-year-old class and experienced a pandemic at age 5) and a cohort that did not experience a pandemic, we examined the effects on the development of children.As a result, we found that at 5 years of age, infants who experienced the pandemic were 4.55 months slower than infants in the cohort who did not. In the younger cohort, however, no relationship between COVID-19 prevalence and developmental delay was found. In addition, individual differences in developmental status were greater after experiencing the pandemic than before the COVID-19 epidemic. It was also suggested that good childcare quality acted as a protective factor against developmental delay in the younger cohort. Parental depression was associated with developmental delay in the older cohort. For these reasons, it is important to quantitatively assess the negative impact of the pandemic on children's development, and to consider measures to support the environment surrounding children, such as parents and daycare centers, to act protectively. It was thought.
In addition, in order to compare the behavioral and brain activity data of adult twins before the outbreak of COVID-19 with the present, VHS videos recorded in the past were converted to electronic data and MRI brain images were reanalyzed. In addition, interviews were conducted to compare adult twins' growth histories and life histories of experts in some field.
Some of these research results were presented at the Japanese Society of Developmental Psychology and at a seminar on the biological basis of education and society at Kyushu University.