ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Children and Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1564307
This article is part of the Research TopicLong-Term Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Mental Health and Well-Being in Education: Underlying Mechanisms and Intervention StrategiesView all 4 articles
Emotional Coping Strategies in Children With and Without Special Educational Needs During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Saudi Arabia
Provisionally accepted
Shuliweeh Alenezi1*
Mohammed Alarabi1*
Ahmed Alyahya2
Ahmad H. Almadani1
Afnan Almarshedi3
Maha Algazlan1Faisal Alnemary4
Fahad A. Bashiri1
Samah Alkhawashki1
Maram Altuwariqi1Rafif Alsedrani4
Aqeel Alkhiri1Sultan A Abughanim5
Addo Boafo6
Mohamad-Hani Temsah1- 1King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- 2King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz University Hospital (KAAUH), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- 3Psychiatry Department, Prince Sultan Military Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- 4Autism Center for Excellence, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- 5Department of Psychiatry, King Fahad Armed Forces Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- 6Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted children's daily lives, especially those of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). This study aimed to compare the coping strategies of children with SEND to those of typically developing (TD) peers, as reported by their parents, and to identify the factors associated with coping efficacy early during the COVID-19 pandemic.We conducted a nationwide cross-sectional survey between May and July 2020 using the Arabic translation of a global project's survey. Participants were recruited from all regions of Saudi Arabia through text messages sent to beneficiaries of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, the Autism Center of Excellence, and the Authority for Persons with Disabilities. Parents of 548 pairs of SEND and TD children, matched by age (±3 years), completed the survey and were included in the analysis. Coping strategies were analyzed and grouped into adaptive and maladaptive factors.TD children and children with SEND were aged, on average, 9.12 ± 3.95 years and 9.36 ± 4.02 years, respectively. TD children were reported to use both adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies more frequently than their peers with SEND (p ≤ 0.001). Parents also reported TD children as having higher coping efficacy (p < 0.001) for all reported coping strategies. Multiple factors were associated with higher odds of adaptive coping, including higher parental Formatted: Font: (Default) +Headings CS (Times New Roman), Complex Script Font: +Headings CS (Times New Roman)
Keywords: COVID-19, Children With Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, Mental Health, Saudi Arabia Heading 1, Space Before: 24 pt, Line spacing: Double coping strategies, Children with special educational needs, typically developing children, COVID-19 pandemic, Saudi Arabia, Parental education, Anxiety levels, Maladaptive coping
Received: 21 Jan 2025; Accepted: 29 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Alenezi, Alarabi, Alyahya, Almadani, Almarshedi, Algazlan, Alnemary, Bashiri, Alkhawashki, Altuwariqi, Alsedrani, Alkhiri, Abughanim, Boafo and Temsah. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Shuliweeh Alenezi, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Mohammed Alarabi, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
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