Abstract

The research objectives were to examine psychosocial and academic variables in families of primary and secondary schoolchildren in southern Chile in physical isolation and to analyze the mental health of parents. A descriptive cross-sectional design was used. Two stages were considered. In the first stage, an ad-hoc survey was applied to 8,102 families. In the second stage, the DASS-21 instrument was applied to a sample of 59. The results of the first stage showed that 40% of the participant families had a member without paid work, an income of less than $ 440, and the majority did not have computer at home. The schoolchildren have felt anxiety, night fears, bad mood or aggressiveness, several of them have not completed schoolwork and reported motivational difficulties. Most of surveyed students have not dedicated enough time to schoolwork and their main activity has been to watch TV series. The second stage showed that the 57.6% of parents presented severe anxiety, 50.8% stress and 83% depression. It is concluded that families lack the resources for the effective development of online education. Specialized actions are required to "mitigate" the impact of physical isolation by Covid-19 on socio-academic and mental health variables in schoolchildren and their families.