Currently submitted to: JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting
Date Submitted: Feb 10, 2026
Open Peer Review Period: Feb 13, 2026 - Apr 10, 2026
(currently open for review)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Online Search Trends on Child Abuse During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan: Infodemiology Study Using the Most Widely Used Search Engine in Japan
ABSTRACT
Background:
Child abuse is an important issue that threatens child development. The COVID-19 pandemic had psychological, social, and economic effects, and concerns were raised about a possible increase in child maltreatment.
Objective:
To analyze the trend of online searches on child abuse during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan.
Methods:
We conducted a retrospective observational study on the online search volume of terms related to abuse, such as “abuse” “psychological abuse” “physical abuse” “neglect” “sexual abuse” “I might become abusive,” “I am scared I might become abusive,” and “I can not stop abusing,” in Yahoo! JAPAN data from 2019 to 2023. Search volumes were compared with trends in the number of reported cases of COVID-19.
Results:
The number of searches for “neglect” increased significantly during periods of social change caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and when summer vacation coincided with waves in the epidemic. Searches for terms suggesting abuse, such as “I might become abusive” and “I am scared I might become abusive” increased in 2020 followed by a decrease from 2021 onward. The majority of the searches were women, aged 20 to 49 years.
Conclusions:
The increase in the number of online searches related to “neglect” may be attributable to psychological burden, social isolation, and economic hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Searches suggesting perpetration of abuse were frequently conducted by mothers. Online search data may serve as a useful tool for identifying trends in risk of child abuse.
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