Dr. Anna Johnson co-edited a Special Section of the journal Child Development

Professor Anna Johnson co-edited a Special Section of the top journal Child Development, all about the sustained impacts of COVID-19 on children, youth, and families. The collection of 17 studies from around the globe converged on a surprising conclusion: COVID did not destroy a generation of children, nor was it universally negative for families. While the pandemic impacts were certainly real and wide-ranging, impacts on child development don’t appear to be as severe as initially feared. The children who fared the worst and recovered most slowly were disproportionately exposed to pre-existing risks, not the pandemic alone. These findings are featured in the Society for Research in Child Development’s flagship journal, Child Development, in a Special Section on COVID-19 titled “Children’s Developmental Trajectories in the Long Shadow of COVID-19.” The Special Section is led by co-editors Anna D. Johnson (Georgetown University), Gabriela Livas (University of Texas at Austin), and Seth Pollak (University of Wisconsin-Madison).