New Study Finds Children Born During the Pandemic Have Lower IQs; Less Stimulated at Home

A new study shows children born during the pandemic have lower IQs.

A new study involving 672 children showed that children born during the pandemic have a significantly low amount of verbal and overall cognitive skills compared to kids born before Rona came around.

In their early stages of life, kids are typically in early childcare programs, nurseries, and around other children of different ages. As many of those services were shut down amid the pandemic, parents had to move into working from home while parenting full-time. With parents stretched thin between their jobs and educating their children, the study found that kids were less stimulated at home.

Ultimately, this affected children’s IQ score, said lead study author Sean Deoni, associate professor of pediatrics (research) at Brown University. Children born pre-pandemic between the ages of three months and three years scored around 100 for their IQs. Children born during the pandemic received an average score of 78.

“It’s not subtle by any stretch,” said Deoni. “You don’t typically see things like that, outside of major cognitive disorders.”

The children that were studied were from Rhode Island, born-full-term and had no developmental disabilities. The majority of the children studied were white. Children from lower-income families were said to have scored lower IQs than others.