Exploring the Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Children’s Social Interaction in Play and the Opinions of Primary School-Aged (6–12) Children’s Parents in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Aims: This study’s aim is to investigate parents’ perspectives on the impact of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions on children’s social interaction (social play) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Methodology: Fifteen qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted online with parents of primary school children aged (6–12) years. During the study, convenience sampling, followed by snowball methods, was primarily employed for its promptness and simplicity due to the lockdown and corresponding movement restrictions for in-person meetings. Qualitative data were collected through online interviews using social media applications. Braun and Clarke’s six phases thematic analysis was conducted to analyse the collected data by systematically coding the contents of interviews. Result: According to the findings, parents observed that COVID-19 restrictions impacted children’s skills to socially interact during social play. The findings revealed a major shift from physical activity to electronic and online gaming, thereby inducing behavioural symptoms of isolation and introversion among children. Gaming addiction increased to the point where children preferred solitary play over social play, even after easing the lockdown restrictions. Furthermore, these findings revealed that children retroceded to the “Solitary Play” stage rather than progressing to the “Cooperative Play” stage of Parten’s Social Interaction Play Theory. Conclusion and recommendation: This study’s findings revealed some significant implications of limited social play and recommendations to preserve and promote opportunities for children’s interaction during COVID-19 and in the pandemic recovery period and to inform policy-makers to mitigate the pandemic’s effects to promote better social interaction in their child development.