Psychology & Health

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Struggling to breathe: a qualitative study of

children’s wellbeing during lockdown in Spain

Nahia Idoiaga Mondragon , Naiara Berasategi Sancho , Maria Dosil

Santamaria & Amaia Eiguren Munitis

To cite this article: Nahia Idoiaga Mondragon , Naiara Berasategi Sancho , Maria Dosil
Santamaria & Amaia Eiguren Munitis (2021) Struggling to breathe: a qualitative study of
children’s wellbeing during lockdown in Spain, Psychology & Health, 36:2, 179-194, DOI:
10.1080/08870446.2020.1804570

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PSYCHOLOGY & HEALTH
2021, VOL. 36, NO. 2, 179–194
https://doi.org/10.1080/08870446.2020.1804570

Struggling to breathe: a qualitative study of children’s

wellbeing during lockdown in Spain
Nahia Idoiaga Mondragona, Naiara Berasategi Sanchob, Maria Dosil Santamariac
and Amaia Eiguren Munitisb
a
Department of Evolutionary and Educational Psychology, University of the Basque Country UPV/
EHU, Leioa, Spain; bDepartment Didactics and School Organisation, University of the Basque Country
UPV/EHU, Leioa, Spain; cDepartment of Research and Diagnostic Methods in Education, University of
the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Leioa, Spain

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Objective: COVID-19 has spread throughout the world, including Received 28 April 2020
Europe. In order to halt the spread of the pandemic by maintain- Accepted 27 July 2020
ing social distancing, all children in Spain have been completely
confined to their homes, and from March 13th to April 26th they KEYWORDS
were forbidden from going outdoors at any time. The aim of this Children; coronavirus
(COVID-19); emotions;
research was gather the voices of children in lockdown during lockdown; wellbeing
the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain in order to examine how they
are coping with this health crisis. Design: A sample of 250
Children from a region of Spain aged 3-12 years (mean 7.14) were
openly asked about their lockdown activities, needs, and feelings.
Main Outcome Measures: Responses were analyzed using
Iramuteq software for lexical analysis. Results: Children reported
having mixed emotions in lockdown; whilst they are happy and
relaxed with their families, they also feel fear, nervousness, worry,
loneliness, sadness, boredom, and anger. At a physical level,
Children noted it was difficult to be deprived of fresh air for
weeks, which also makes them primarily sedentary, and they
missed outdoor exercise. Socially, they missed peers and care-
givers. Conclusion: This study provides evidence about the need
to safeguard children’s wellbeing during the COVID-19 crisis.

Introduction
During the COVID-19 pandemic, most infected children are asymptomatic (Jiehao
et al., 2020) or present mild clinical manifestations (Jiao et al., 2020). It therefore
appears that children could be less susceptible to this pandemic in comparison with
adults (Pavone et al., 2020). As a response to this crisis, most countries worldwide
have implemented social distancing measures and ordered the lockdown of all resi-
dents – including school closures – to slow the rate of transmission, ease the pressure
on the health care system, and protect at-risk populations (Armitage & Nellums, 2020).
However, each country has imposed different rules for children during lockdown; in

CONTACT Nahia Idoiaga Mondragon nahia.idoiaga@ehu.es Department of Evolutionary and Educational

Psychology, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Leioa, Spain
ß 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
180 N. IDOIAGA MONDRAGON ET AL.

some countries they are allowed to leave home for sports or walks with their parents/
guardians, whilst in other countries these activities are prohibited (Garcia, 2020).
Spain is one of the European countries that has been most affected by COVID-19.
In early March, cases began to multiply exponentially and uncontrollably, and, as a
response to this situation, all schools were closed (S
anchez, 2020b). The prime minister
of Spain then declared a state of emergency on 14th March 2020, ordering the manda-
tory lockdown of all residents (Royal Decree 462/2020, 2020). In the same speech, the
president outlined a very stringent set of rules to be followed during this lockdown,
which, at the time, were possibly the harshest in Europe, and even the world (Merino
et al., 2020; S
anchez, 2020a). At the time of this speech there was not a single men-
tion of children, although the rules were particularly rigid for them. Children were for-
bidden to leave their homes, with Spain being the only European country where
children were not allowed to go out (Granada, 2020; Grechyna, 2020). However, after
six weeks, the Spanish government decided to allow children go out for one hour per
day (with certain restrictions). On the 26th April 2020 – the time at which this investi-
gation was carried out – children had been in complete lockdown for 3 to 5 weeks
with no expectation that anything would change.
This situation of total and obligatory confinement that the children experienced
contrasts in part, with the fact that adults (even those from high-risk groups such as
the elderly, chronically ill) were able to leave their homes to carry out certain tasks
such as shopping, dog walking, or going to the bank. This unequal treatment received
by children created discrepancies in society, with some people claiming that children
are continually side-lined when it comes to policy making (Kohan, 2020). Some voices
have gone further and argue that the failure to guarantee the minimum required
amount of physical activity in children may violate Article 27 of the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child (Chaccour, 2020).
Although the confinement situation created by COVID-19 has no precedents, in
order to consider its long-term impact it is useful to analyze what has happened in
recent pandemics such as SARS, Ebola, H1N1 or the Middle East Respiratory
Syndrome. A recent review of research papers on the impact of those lockdowns
(Brooks et al., 2020) has revealed that these crises have a wide range of long-lasting
psychological effects including anxiety, feelings of anger, sleep disorders, and depres-
sion. The severity of these disorders were primarily determined by the duration of the
lockdown measures (Hawryluck et al., 2004; Reynolds et al., 2008), the fear of being
infected (Bai et al., 2004), frustration, boredom (Cava et al., 2005) and inadequate
information (Digiovanni et al., 2004). This research also revealed that lockdown could
create post-traumatic stress, particularly in relation to financial hardship (Mihashi et al.,
2009) and stigmatization (Wester & Giesecke, 2019).
While most of the works included in this review had focused on adults (Brooks et al.,
2020), some studies have also addressed the situation of children in lockdown.
For example, it was found that post-traumatic stress scores were four times higher in
children who had been quarantined than in those who had not (Sprang & Silman,
2013). In addition, it should be noted that the effects of these previous lockdowns were
considerably more severe for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. For
instance, school closures during the 2014–16 Ebola epidemic increased dropouts, child
 PSYCHOLOGY & HEALTH 181

labor, violence against children, teen pregnancies, and persisting socioeconomic and
gender disparities, particularly among the poorest populations of Guinea, Liberia, and
Sierra Leona (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 2015).
In the case of COVID-19, some studies have already noted the effects of lockdown
on children. For instance, research conducted in China has found that the lockdown
generates feelings of fear, worry, sadness, loneliness, and stress (Jiao et al., 2020;
Jiloha, 2020; Leung et al., 2020; Qiu et al., 2020; Wang et al., 2020). Understanding
children’s reactions and emotions is essential if their psychological needs are to be
adequately addressed (Jiao et al., 2020; Jiloha, 2020). Researchers in China have also
found that in lockdown children are physically less active, have much longer screen
time, show irregular sleep patterns, and have poorer diets, resulting in weight gain
and a loss of cardiorespiratory fitness (Jiao et al., 2020; Jiloha, 2020; Wang et al., 2020).
Moreover, in another study conducted in Italy (Pisano et al., 2020), parents reported
that during this lockdown children have been showing fears that they had never
expressed before, including increased irritability, nervousness, intolerance to rules,
whims and excessive demands, mood changes, and sleep problems.
Given these considerations, it is of critical importance to identify how children are
living through this lockdown in order to develop strategies and tools that – by taking
into account their needs and concerns – will ultimately help them to overcome these
unprecedented circumstances. However, to the best of our knowledge, no studies
have yet directly examined how children are responding to this situation from their
own perspective. In this regard, recent years have witnessed a growing movement
driven by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN, 1989), which
promotes the importance of hearing children’s voices first-hand in matters that affect
their lives (Robinson, 2014; Urbina-Garcia, 2019).
Hence, given this gap in the current literature, the main goal of the work presented
here was to study the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on children, as viewed from
their perspective, whilst observing their emotional responses amid the coronavirus
pandemic in Spain.

Design
Sample
A total of 250 children participated in this study between 30th March and 13th April
2020. The sample was recruited in the Basque Country region located in Northern
Spain. Of the sample, 52.21% were girls and 47.79% were boys. The mean age of the
participants was 7.14 years (SD ¼ 2.57) with an age range of 3-12 years.

Data collection method

To analyze the children’s self-assessment of how they are experiencing the COVID-19
lockdown and, given the current confinement situation, we decided to access the chil-
dren through their parents. Questionnaires were emailed to all schools in the Basque
Country region and the schools were asked to forward these questionnaires to the
families. In that email a document was sent explaining how the study should be
182 N. IDOIAGA MONDRAGON ET AL.

carried out and a link to do so. In the explanatory document it was specified to the
parents that this was an exercise for their children and that they, the parents, would
take the role of interviewers. To carry out the exercise they had to ask to their children
three specific questions: 1) During these days that we are staying at home because of
the coronavirus, what things are you doing at home? 2) What would you like to do, or
what do you miss? 3) How are you feeling these days? The parents were then encour-
aged to transcribe the exact responses given by their children. The document gave
two practical examples of how the exercise should be done and how it should not be
done (specifying that no suggestions should be made or that the children’s words
should not be paraphrased).
All children participated on a voluntary basis, received information about the pro-
cedure of the investigation, and their parents gave their consent before participating
in the study. This research was granted the approval of the Ethics Committee of the
University of the Basque Country [M10/2020/055].

Data analysis method

The Reinert method using Iramuteq software for lexical analysis (Reinert, 1983, 1990)
was employed to analyze the corpus of text. This method has frequently been used to
study the content of open questions (Kalampalikis, 2005; Klein & Licata, 2003; Lahlou,
2001), confirming that the results obtained agree with those of other methods used in
this field of research (Lahlou, 1996). Iramuteq software eliminates problems of reliabil-
ity and validity in text analysis (Klein & Licata, 2003; Reinert, 1996). Using this method,
which follows a descending hierarchical analysis format, the analyst obtains a series of
classes and statistical cues in the form of typical words and typical text segments.
Specifically, the software identifies the words and text segments with the highest Chi-
square values, that is, those that best identify each class or idea that the participants
have repeatedly mentioned. Reinert method operations are statistical, transparent, and
reproducible until the final stage of interpretation, where the analyst assigns a label to
each specific vocabulary set that the software had identified as a lexical world on the
basis of co-occurrences and distribution patterns (Schonhardt-Bailey, 2013).
In accord with previous research using the Reinert method (Vizeu & Bousfield,
2009), the raw data were entered into the Iramuteq program and the most significant
items of vocabulary in each class were selected on the basis of three criteria: 1) an
expected value of the word greater than 3; 2) proof of association with the Chi-square,
tested against the class (v2  3.89 (p ¼ .05); df ¼ 1) and; 3) the word appears primarily
in that class, with a frequency of 50% or more. Finally, as a complementary analysis,
Iramuteq also conducts a lexical similarity analysis.

Results
The full corpus contained 20514 words, of which 2259 were unique words. Specifically,
the descending hierarchical analysis divided the corpus into 210 segments and 4
classes. The results of this analysis is displayed in Figure 1.
 PSYCHOLOGY & HEALTH 183

Figure 1. The hierarchical clustering dendrogram of the children’s responses, showing the most
frequent words and the words with the greatest association v2(1), p < 0.05.

The Reinert method analysis identified the main ideas held by children regarding
the lockdown. Each issue or idea is represented by a set of typical words and text seg-
ments, which is referred to as a class. First, the results revealed two main branches or
themes (composed of different classes), which are referred to as main clusters, and
labelled as ‘In lockdown’ and ‘After lockdown’. The first main cluster refers to the situ-
ation of children during the lockdown and is composed of Classes 4 (How do I feel?)
and 1 (What am I doing?). The second main cluster refers primarily to the things that
children do not currently have in lockdown and miss, and is composed of Classes 2
(What do I want to do?) and 3 (Who/What do I miss?).
Following the hierarchical clustering dendrogram, Class 4 was the first class to
emerge within the first main cluster describing how the children are feeling during
lockdown, with a weight of 20.8%, which has been labelled as ‘How do I feel?’. Within
this class, it can be observed how children describe their mood with emotions such as
sadness, nervousness, and feeling overwhelmed, worried or lonely. They link these
emotions not only to the lockdown but also to the coronavirus itself whilst they also
seem to have a number of questions, since they use words such as ask, answer, or
explain. The following are the most characteristic text segments of this class: ‘At home
I’m kind of nervous, sad and a little bad sometimes because I ask when this is going
to end but my parents don’t know the answer’ (v2¼ 139.42, boy, 8 years); ‘What is
happening is bad, because the coronavirus is bad and a little scary and that’s why I
184 N. IDOIAGA MONDRAGON ET AL.

am sometimes bad and nervous, but then I get over it and that’s it!’ (v2¼ 120.54,
boy, 5 years).
Within the same main cluster – and also describing the situation in lockdown – the
second class that emerged (Class 1) was labelled ‘What am I doing?’ and had a weight
of 31.29%. This class describes how children are getting on with their schoolwork,
drawing, playing, reading or cooking. Particularly noteworthy are the activities that
make use of new technologies, such as watching TV, playing with the smartphone,
playing video games, or making video calls. Children also express mixed emotions in
this class. Thus, on the one hand they say they are happy and calm when practicing
these activities, but they also highlight feelings of boredom and anger. The most sig-
nificant text discourses are: ‘What I am doing at home is doing schoolwork, playing
with LEGOV R , creating a comic book, watching TV, playing on the computer, helping

with housework and playing board games with my parents. I am happy doing these
things although sometimes I get bored’ (v2¼ 290.44, boy, 6 years); ‘I’m usually drawing
and doing my homework in my room. What we still have to do is draw a picture of a
school trip. I feel happy and have fun watching TV and playing with my brother’ (v2¼
115.88, boy, 8 years); ‘I usually watch TV or play with the iPad. I also talk to family and
friends by video call. The hardest thing for me to do is my schoolwork. Ah! And yes-
terday I made a chocolate cake. I feel good, sometimes I get angry and sometimes I
get bored’ (v2¼ 210.07, girl, 8 years); ‘I like to watch TV, especially YouTube, and play
video games because they are my favorite game. I like painting, but the teacher has
sent me a lot of schoolwork, although I also like to do this’ (v2¼ 204.64, girl, 6 years).
In the second main cluster, two classes emerged in relation to what children missed
‘after lockdown’. The first class to emerge in this cluster (Class 2) had a weight of
22.42% and reveals how much the children missed going outdoors so was labelled
‘What do I want to do?’. The children mentioned a range of activities they would like
to do, such as riding their bikes, swimming, going to the mountains, playing, dancing,
running, skating or playing football. It is significant that they also mentioned that they
need to ‘breathe’ as we can see in the most characteristic segments: ‘I want to go out
on my bike on skates and go to the park and be with my friends and grandparents
and pick flowers and jump around, swimming and dancing. I want to go to the park
and breathe!’ (v2¼ 221.25, boy, 5 years); ‘I want to go out to the street, play with my
friends, ride my bike, breathe, go to the mountains and live healthily because now we
are not doing it, we are in a prison’ (v2¼ 220.7, girl, 12 years); ‘I want to play with my
friends, and go to Grandma and Grandpa’s for lunch. I want to go out to the park and
play or run and ride skates because I just learned and I have new skates and I can’t
use them at home because my mother won’t let me’ (v2¼ 156.86, girl, 5 years); ‘I’m
doing a lot of things but I get bored and feel like I can’t breathe. Everything I do
would be fine for Winter but it’s already Spring and in Spring being at home playing
with PlaymobilV R is fine, but just for a while. I want to go out, run, jump, skate, ride

my bike and breathe!’ (v2¼ 132.26, girl, 6 years).

The second class in the second cluster (Class 3) was labelled ‘Who/what do I miss?’
and had a weight of 25.49%). Children reported missing their friends, their grandpar-
ents, cousins, and schoolmates. But they also missed school, their sporting activities,
and the holidays (it should be mentioned that during this study the confinement
 PSYCHOLOGY & HEALTH 185

period coincided with the dates of the Spring break). The following are some of the
most significant text segments of this class: ‘I miss my friends and school, my cousins
and my grandmother. I talk to them on the phone from time to time but it’s not the
same’ (v2¼ 282.14, boy 9 years); ‘I miss my grandparents and I’m angry with them
because I want to go to my grandma’s house and I don’t want to talk to them on
video call, I want to really go and play and eat there. I don’t like video calling’ (v2¼
238.69, boy, 5 years); ‘We interact in the WhatsApp group we have with our school
friends by sending videos, etc. And that’s nice but not the same. I also miss my
teacher and my grandparents’ (v2¼ 215.78, girl, 12 years); ‘I miss the holidays, now we
would be going to the campsite, the swimming pool, and I like that a lot and also the
mini-disco. And there are no more spring holidays and I like them a lot! I want to
know when we are going to go on holiday’ (v2¼ 238.69, boy, 5 years).
Taking into account the wide range of emotions that emerged in the different
classes and in order to analyze these in more depth, we decided to separately analyze
the responses that children gave when they were asked by their parents about their
feelings. A lexical similarity analysis (see Figure 2) was therefore carried out with all
the responses to the question ‘How do you feel?’.
Based on this analysis, it can be seen more clearly that the lockdown evokes mixed
emotions in the children. In particular, they reported being happy with their family
(although sometimes they are angry and are worried about them) and they were also
relaxed at home even though they also felt nervous, upset, overwhelmed and fright-
ened in this situation. They also reported feeling bored, and feeling lonely and sad
because they wanted to see their grandparents, play with their friends, and
go outside.
In order to analyze these emotions in more depth, we examined some of the text
segments in which feelings appear. For example, in relation to fear, nervousness and
worry, the following text segments appeared: ‘One day I started crying because I was
scared by everything that was happening but I talked to my parents about it and now
I’m more worried about when it will be over and I’ll be able to get out of the confine-
ment’ (Girl, 7 years); ‘I’m scared and I’m worried because my mother is a doctor and
she’s fighting the coronavirus in the hospital and she goes off every day to fight but
she goes off to work a little bit sad. I’m afraid she’ll catch it, but she’ll beat any virus’
(Boy, 8 years).
The sadness appears to be expressed with sentences such as ‘I also miss my friends
and that makes me want to cry and makes me feel a little sad, but then playing with
mom and the balloon makes me very happy’ (Girl, 4 years). Linked to this sadness,
boredom and loneliness also appear with sentences such as: ‘I’m bored of being at
home, I’d like to be with people on the street or with my mother on the street, but
since I can’t leave the house I have to put up with it. Sometimes I feel very lonely
without friends or anyone my own age’ (Girl, 5 years); ‘I’m bored of being at home
and I feel a bit lonely because I’m not with my friends, we talk by video call but it’s
not the same because I don’t see all of them and I don’t know, I get bored and I feel
lonely’ (Boy, 9 years).
The whole situation also made children feel angry and upset, as we can see in the
following text segments: ‘I’m tired of being at home and I’m angry with everyone
186 N. IDOIAGA MONDRAGON ET AL.

Figure 2. Results of the lexical similarity analysis produced by the sub-corpus of emotions.

because they don’t let the kids go out. We’re already super healthy because we
haven’t gone out in 20 days and I’m not going to touch anything if they let me go
out, but since they don’t let me, I’m angry’ (Boy, 7 years); ‘I miss the fresh air. I’m sick
of doing schoolwork all day! I’m bored and angry because the teachers don’t realize
we’re at home! And because I’m angry I argue with my parents about the homework,
but there is just too much and they expect too much!’ (Boy, 10 years); ‘I miss my
friends and playing. I get bored and a little angry and sometimes I yell and get upset.
Mostly I get angry with my parents, although it’s not their fault. But since I don’t see
anyone else, I have to yell at someone’ (Girl, 12 years).
Finally, the children also reported being happy and relaxed in their homes with
their families, as we can see in the following text segments: ‘As I am 9 years old I am
looking forward to playing with friends and in nature, on the grass and in the sun!
But at home I am also quiet, and I like to be at home and playing with the family also
makes me very happy’ (Girl, 9 years); ‘I feel happy and cheerful at home with my
parents. I especially like it when it’s eight o’clock in the evening and we go out to the
 PSYCHOLOGY & HEALTH 187

balcony to clap for the doctors and people are singing and dancing, and it’s very nice’
(Boy, 8 years).

Discussion
The findings of this study provide important evidence for identifying how children are
coping with this lockdown situation, how they feel, and what they miss. From the
voice of the children in Spain, two main issues arise, labelled as ‘In lockdown’ and
‘After lockdown’. First, the ‘In lockdown’ cluster is divided into two classes: ‘How do I
feel?’ and ‘What am I doing’. With regard to how they feel in lockdown, it can be
observed that negative emotions arise that are linked to fear, sadness, nervousness,
feeling overwhelmed, worry, and loneliness. Authors of previous research studies
(Brooks et al., 2020; Jiao et al., 2020; Jiloha, 2020) along with various experts such as
pediatricians, psychologists, and educators (Grechyna, 2020) have pointed out the
negative emotional effects that can be created by the confinement situation. It has
been emphasized that these emotions become more severe as the duration of con-
finement increases (Brooks et al., 2020). These emotions, such as fear and sadness, are
not only linked to the lockdown but also to the virus itself. Children are particularly
concerned about the uncertainty and unfamiliarity of the situation and consequently
raise their own questions. Previous research indicates that even children as young as
2 years are aware of the changes created by these types of threats surrounding them
(Dalton et al., 2019). It is therefore clear that effective communication about COVID-19
is critical for protecting the psychological wellbeing of children (Leung et al., 2020).
However, this is not an easy task, since adults are limited with regard to the explana-
tions they can give about COVID-19, since their own understanding of what is happen-
ing (and mental well-being) is also compromised during the pandemic (Idoiaga et al.,
2020). Thus, supporting children’s mental health in times of crisis is a challenge
because there is a need for clarity, which is not always possible. This could have a dir-
ect impact on children, because when information is absent or is poorly understood,
children have a tendency to try to make sense of the situation by themselves (Stein
et al., 2019).
In relation to the activities with which children are engaged during lockdown, our
results indicate that apart from schoolwork, they are involved in several play-based
activities along with free-play. Play could be key to ensuring the healthy development
of children during lockdown because this provides an opportunity for the child to
interact, where the adult and the child work together on contributing ideas, solving
problems, reaching conclusions, or evaluating activities. In doing so, both adult and
child can develop and extend their thinking, based on Vygotsky’s theory and on the
concept of sustained shared thinking (Sylva et al., 2004; Siraj-Blatchford, 2009).
Moreover, these playful activities are linked to positive emotions as they are seen as
opportunities for shared experiences and to enjoy spending time with their family,
signs of resilience in children (Jiao et al., 2020). Resilience is an attribute that helps
children to manage everything from minor disappointments to major life traumas
(Goldstein & Brooks, 2005). In fact, resilient children usually have more optimistic ways
of explaining negative events, and deal with risk and stress more effectively (Rutter,
188 N. IDOIAGA MONDRAGON ET AL.

1987; Seligman, 1995). Amid the current COVID-19 crisis, research carried out in China
suggests that the nurturing of self-efficacy and optimistic ways to live through the
lockdown help children to overcome conditions of distress caused by this confinement
(Dalton et al., 2020; Jiao et al., 2020).
Nonetheless, children also express emotions of anger and boredom in their lock-
down situation and such emotions, in contrast to those mentioned above, may be risk
factors to experiencing poor mental health and stress dealing of children in lockdown
(Brooks et al., 2020). In addition, the fact that these emotions are expressed in relation
to schoolwork should be analyzed more carefully in future research, since it might
need to be considered whether this work is an additional source of conflict for fami-
lies, as certain pedagogues point out (Tonucci, 2020). Therefore one of the great chal-
lenges for academic institutions will be to adapt their teaching to new online media
but with a special emphasis on ensuring that the proposed tasks are relevant (Burgess
& Sievertsen, 2020; Wang et al., 2020) and adapted to all students (particularly focus-
ing on the most vulnerable, and the issue of the digital divide) in order to reduce
social inequalities (Armitage & Nellums, 2020).
A final point worth noting with regard to children’s activities in lockdown is that
most of the mentioned activities are sedentary, with barely any reference to bodily
movement. What is also striking is the emergence of an excessive use of new technol-
ogies and TV. Therefore our findings are also in accord with the results of research
conducted in China, which suggests that this lockdown could be a real threat for
children’s physical activity and could encourage excessive screen time (Jiao et al.,
2020; Jiloha, 2020; Lippi et al., 2020; Wang et al., 2020). These factors are strongly
linked to weight gain, a loss of cardiorespiratory fitness, and even to poorer mental
health, since participation in physical activity enhances mental health and positive
mood via the release of endorphins (Rodriguez-Ayllon et al., 2019). Moreover, children
themselves emphasized in this study that they miss and need many activities related
to physical movement such as riding their bikes, swimming, dancing, running, skating
or playing football.
Further, in the ‘after lockdown’ cluster that our analyses revealed, two main themes
emerged, one of which is related to the things or places that children miss whilst the
other concerns the people that they miss. In the former case, one urgent need that
emerged from the children’s voices is that they miss the outdoors and contact with
the sun, air, and natural elements along with places such as parks, mountains, and
streets. Moreover, it is important to bear in mind that the majority of Spanish families
do not have private outdoor space since most of them live in multi-family houses or
flats, which, on average are between 60 and 90 square meters (Arago
& Aroca, 2020).
Taking into account that, on average, families in Spain have 1.3 children, a typical fam-
ily would consist of 3-4 people living together in that area and many children have
been forced to stay completely indoors during the lockdown (Grechyna, 2020). There
is a general agreement regarding the positive relationship between exposure to the
outdoors and health, particularly in childhood (Mun ~oz, 2009; Pasanen et al., 2014;
Pearson & Craig, 2014), and consequently, some of the children also express the need
‘to breathe’ because they feel locked up, or even ‘imprisoned’. This powerful and
shocking use of language reflects the consequences of being deprived of fresh air,
 PSYCHOLOGY & HEALTH 189

which has a very deep and holistic impact on them, affecting children physically, emo-
tionally and socially and, in a sense, ‘drowning’ them.
Finally, with regard to who the children reported missing, our findings indicate that
they are missing other children such as friends or classmates, which is causing them
to experience feelings of loneliness, as indicated by other research studies (Jiao et al.,
2020; Okruszek et al., 2020; Singh & Singh, 2020). Loneliness is an exceedingly painful
experience that is the sum of an unfulfilled need for intimacy, and social relationships
that are felt to be insufficient or not entirely satisfactory (Berger & Poirie, 1995).
Therefore, the emergence of this feeling indicates that in children, contact with others
such as friends and classmates is essential, and the fact that they feel lonely indicates
that they are not receiving the opportunity for such interaction, or at least, not to a
sufficient extent. In addition, children also indicate that they miss some of their care-
givers such as grandparents, teachers or trainers. This shows that schools play a critical
role not only in delivering educational materials to children, but in offering the oppor-
tunity for students to interact with teachers and to obtain psychological counselling.
For this reason, it would be highly desirable to ensure that this direct connection
between teachers and children is also maintained during this period of confinement
(Wang et al., 2020). Therefore, it will be important to ensure that institutions and edu-
cation centers play their part in developing strategies that allow children to maintain
contact with both classmates and teachers through online platforms. It should be
noted, however, that there are children (particularly those who are vulnerable) who do
not have access to the Internet or computers at home, and thus measures must be
taken by public and educational institutions to resolve this issue in order to avoid
social isolation and discrimination.
The results of the lexical similarity analysis revealed the emergence of ambivalent
emotions. Thus, whilst children report feeling happy and relaxed with their family in
the comfort of their home surroundings, they also feel frightened, nervous, and wor-
ried about the pandemic and the possibility of their relatives becoming infected. They
also feel sad and lonely because they cannot spend time with their friends, grandpar-
ents, and extended family, all of which makes them feel angry and upset.
In conclusion, it is apparent that the lockdown situation in Spain has had a consid-
erable impact on children’s wellbeing, not only at a psychological level but also in
social and physical terms. As highlighted by the findings of this study, children have a
strong need for socialization, since they miss their classmates, friends, and caregivers.
Moreover, it is evident from the voices of the children in our study that there is a
need for physical activity. They miss running, swimming or walking, all of which
require them to venture outdoors. Given the severity of the lockdown measures
adopted by the Spanish government during this crisis – which are particularly harsh
for children – specific actions must be taken to address this situation to ensure that
children are able to engage in sufficient physical activity and receive a minimum level
of exposure to sun and fresh air.
Therefore, it will be important to ensure that institutions play their part in develop-
ing strategies that ensure children rights, such as the right to adequate living condi-
tions and education (including access to the Internet); access to leisure, play,
recreational activities or cultural life; the right to not be subjected to any form of
190 N. IDOIAGA MONDRAGON ET AL.

violence (especially at home) or the right to be informed about the situation and to
be heard (Martinez, 2020). In this regard, even the Committee on the Rights of the
Child has highlighted the serious physical, emotional and psychological impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic on children, urging member states to protect children’s rights by
adopting measures that specifically take them into account, without being sufficient
(or appropriate) to subsume children into the general regulations (United Nations
Human Rights Office, 2020). It would therefore be appropriate to call for the creation
of specific policies aimed at ensuring the well-being of children during lockdowns.
It is worth noting that this research also has some limitations. Perhaps the main
limitation concerns the way in which the data were collected, that is, through parents.
Although this choice was due to the circumstances of the lockdown, the involvement
of parents may have altered some responses, leading to several sources of bias. For
instance, there may have been variations in the way in which the parents conducted
the conversations and engaged with the children in this research (Crain-Thoreson
et al., 2001; Peterson et al., 2007), with potential practical and emotional influences.
However, the precise identification of these influences is beyond the scope of this
study. Moreover, the very fact that the parents or legal guardians of the children may
or may not have participated in this research could also be a source a bias, since the
most vulnerable families are less likely to participate in this type of study and have
more problems in doing so (e.g. weak or no internet access). A further source of bias
could lie in the transcription process, with some parents likely to be much more thor-
ough and conscientious than others when writing down what the children actually
said, although the indications provided were as specific as possible. The sample of this
research includes children of a wide range of ages (from 3 to 12 years). And whilst the
results did not indicate specific differences among the responses of children according
to age, there are likely to be substantial variations in their understandings of the lock-
down and of their own cognitions and feelings.
In short, the lockdown protocols appear to be effective in helping to slow down
the pandemic, but the extreme lockdown being experienced by children in Spain is
having repercussions for their wellbeing. Thus, to mitigate any damage and prevent
further difficulties and negative effects in the future (including physical, social and psy-
chological problems) as the result of an already extreme situation, it will be essential
for governments and local authorities to develop social and inclusive policies that
address the psychological, social, health, and wellbeing needs of children.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the cor-
responding author, N. I. The data are not publicly available due to their containing
information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
 PSYCHOLOGY & HEALTH 191

Funding
KideOn. Research Group of the Basque Government, Ref.: IT1342-19 (A category)

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