Economic Stress, Parenting and Adolescents' Adjustment During the COVID-19 Pandemic

• In Event: Poster Session 05
  In Poster Session: PS 05 Topic - Solicited Content: COVID-19 Related

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the lives and well-being of families both socially and financially. Parents’ stress levels have increased, creating immediate and longstanding effects (Prime et al., 2020). Based on the family economic stress model (Conger & Donnellan, 2007), when parents experience greater financial stress, their mental and emotional well-being may be threatened. This limits their ability to navigate stressors successfully and undermines the effectiveness of their parenting behaviors (Prime et al., 2020). Parent-adolescent relationships change rapidly as peers become salient and adolescents pursue greater autonomy from parents (Tilton-Weaver & Galambos, 2003). The COVID-19 pandemic has likely made these relationship changes more difficult to navigate, exacerbating feelings of social isolation and increasing the risk for poorer psychosocial outcomes among adolescents. This investigation examines how financial stress from the COVID-19 pandemic are impacting family relationships and parents’ and adolescents’ well-being. Using the family economic stress model (Conger & Donnellan, 2007), two research questions were of interest. First, what is the relationship between financial stress and adolescents’ psychosocial adjustment (i.e., depression, anxiety, and loneliness)? Second, is the association between financial stress and adolescents’ psychosocial adjustment serially mediated by parents’ psychosocial well-being (i.e., depression, anxiety, and stress) and parenting (i.e., parenting stress and parent-adolescent conflict)?
Data collection began in early June 2020 and is still in progress. Thus far, 100 parents (Mage=42.55, SDage=6.88; Female=97.0%) have participated in the research investigation. Parents who participated had at least one child between 12 and 18 years old and reside in the United States. Parents completed several questionnaires about their well-being, relationship with their oldest typically developing adolescent (between 12 and 18 years old) and their adolescents’ well-being; 54.5% were female (Mage=15.35, SDage=2.30). The Financial Stress Questionnaire (Fast Track Project; α=.95) assessed family’s financial stress. The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995) assessed parental depression (α=.90), anxiety (α=.82) and stress (α=.85). The Parental Stress Scale (Berry & Jones, 1995; α=.81) assessed parenting stress. The Parent-Adolescent Conflict measure (Mounts, 2007; α=.80) assessed the frequency parents and adolescents have different opinions regarding peer-related and social distancing issues within the past week. The Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (Chorpita & Spence, 1998) assessed adolescents’ anxiety (α=.86) and depression (α=.85). The UCLA Loneliness Scale (Russell et al., 1978; α=.94) assessed adolescents’ loneliness.
Serial multiple mediation analyses were conducted using PROCESS Model 6 (Hayes, 2018). Financial stress was entered as the predictor variable. Parents’ psychosocial well-being (i.e., parental anxiety, depression, and stress) was the first mediator. Parenting (i.e., parenting stress and parent-adolescent conflict) was the second mediator. Adolescents’ anxiety, depression and loneliness were the outcome variables. Adolescents’ sex was included as a covariate in all analyses. Analysis for each serial multiple mediation pathway was performed separately. Initial findings suggest that financial stress is related to adolescents’ psychosocial adjustment through parents’ psychosocial well-being and parenting. The specific indirect effect was significant for each model containing parental anxiety, depression, and stress as the first mediator and parenting stress (Figure 1) and parent-adolescent conflict (Figure 2) as the second mediator.

Authors

• Natalie Low, National University of Singapore
  Presenting Author

• Nina S. Mounts, Northern Illinois University
  Non-Presenting Author