Parenting Adolescents in time of a Pandemic: Changes in relationship quality, autonomy support and parental control

• In Event: Parenting and Child Development in Times of COVID-19

Abstract

Due to preventive measures to decrease COVID-19 mortality rates from rising, adolescents were not able to attend school, had to stay at home, and had to limit social contact with friends in the spring of 2020. This preregistered multi-informant longitudinal study examined the effects of this lockdown on parent-adolescent relationships. Based on the Family Adjustment and Adaptation Response Model (FAAR; Patterson, 2002), we hypothesized that during the lockdown, parents would be less warm, have more conflicts with their children, be less autonomy supportive, and be more psychologically and behaviorally controlling than before the lockdown. However, we also hypothesized differences between families in these changes. We furthermore explored whether moderating variables could explain differential patterns of change.

As part of an ongoing longitudinal multi-informant study 4 two-weekly assessments took place before and 4 assessments took place during the lockdown. 179 Dutch adolescents (Mage = 14.26 years, SDage = 1.62; 31% boys) and 144 primary care givers (Mage = 47.01 years, SDage = 5.19; 19% male) filled out reliable multi-item measures on parental warmth, parent-adolescent conflict, autonomy support, psychological control and behavioral control. Descriptive statistics regarding the family situation, collected after the lockdown, indicted that on average, families installed 13 novel rules, such as not seeing friends, keeping distance and getting up on time. On average, adolescents found these novel rules quite legitimate (M = 2.12, SD = 0.46, Range = 1 - 3) and reported low levels of oppositional defiance (M = 1.31, SD = 0.58, Range = 1 - 5) and conflicts (M = 1.78, SD = 0.81, Range =1-5). Adolescents reported to spend significantly less time with their friends during the lockdown (M = 2.14 SD = 3.02) than before the lockdown (M = 8.14, SD = 3.53, p < .001) and they spent significantly more time with their primary care giver (M = 12.72 SD = 6.94) than before the lockdown (M = 8.55, SD = 5.47, p > .001).

To test our hypotheses, changes in the parent-child relationship were analyzed with preregistered piece-wise growth models (Figure 1 presentation 2). In line with our hypothesis, both adolescents and parents reported significantly lower levels of autonomy support during the lockdown (i.e., significant L2, see Table 1 presentation 2). In parent-reported models, autonomy support increased and behavioral control decreased across the 8 weeks after the start of the lockdown (i.e., significant S2). Counter to our hypothesis and demonstrating overall patterns of family resilience, none of the other parent-child relationship domains showed mean-level change. However, in line with our predictions, most mean-level changes differed significantly between families (i.e., significant variance around L2 and S2). These differences will be correlated with moderating variables, such as parental anxiety, child legitimacy beliefs, and background variables. Adding moderating variables will provide more personalized insights in the investigation of influences of the pandemic on parenting as well as child development.

Authors

• Anne Bülow, Erasmus University Rotterdam
  Presenting Author

• Loes Keijsers, Erasmus University Rotterdam
  Non-Presenting Author

• Eeske Van Roekel, Tilburg University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jaap Denissen, Utrecht University
  Non-Presenting Author