“Big Bad Germie”: Exploring How Parents Talk to Young Children about COVID-19

• In Event: Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: PS 11 Topic - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Abstract

Background:
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic presents a unique source of ongoing stress for families. The long-term impact of disasters on children’s well-being is often dependent on parent and family variables (Cobham et al., 2016). Given that parents are encouraged to talk with children about COVID-19 (Dalton, Rapa, & Stein, 2020), it is critical to understand what is being communicated. In previous research on parent conversation regarding disasters and terrorist events, child anxiety has been associated with both extensive conversation (Stein et al., 2004) and with parents avoiding conversation (Carpenter et al., 2017; Garfin et al., 2014). Great variability in the content of disaster-related conversations has also been found (Stoppa et al., 2011). Research on this topic has primarily focused on older children and adolescents, yet young children are particularly vulnerable to emotional and behavioral impacts after disasters (Hamiel et al., 2017), and they depend on conversation with caregivers to develop an understanding of the world and these events (e.g., Gelman, 2008). In the present study, we describe the amount and content of parent-reported conversations with preschoolers regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and explore possible associations with child anxiety and lability.
Method:
A Qualtrics survey was distributed nationally from May to July 2020 to parents with a child age 3-6 years old. Parents (N=231) completed the Child Behavior Scale – Anxiety/Fearfulness (Ladd & Profilet, 1996) and Emotion Regulation Checklist – Emotional Lability/Negativity subscales (Shields & Cicchetti, 1997). On a 4-point scale, parents reported how much they had talked with their child about COVID-19. Parents then answered the open-ended question “what are some of the things you and your child have talked about with respect to COVID-19?”
Results:
Most parents reported talking to their child about COVID-19 a little bit (63.0%) or quite a bit (27.0%); few reported talking a lot (4.3%) or not at all (5.6%). Thematic analysis was performed to code qualitative responses according to what parents reported discussing with their child. Three types of conversations (explanatory, action-oriented, and protective) emerged with specific sub-themes (see Table 1). Children whose parents engaged in explanatory conversation had higher anxiety scores (M = 1.41, SD = 0.36) than those who did not (M = 1.26, SD = 0.31); t (198) = -2.26, p = .025. Children whose parents engaged in protective conversation had lower emotional lability scores than those who did not use this conversation type, which appears related to reassurance rather than avoidance (see Figure 1).
Conclusions:
Children’s well-being during the current pandemic will likely depend on risk or protective factors within their family systems (Prime, Wade, & Browne, 2020). This study uniquely focuses on description of what parents are saying about the pandemic to their young children and how this may relate to child coping. Child anxiety was associated with parents providing explanatory conversations, and reassurance was associated with less emotional lability. The directionality of these relations should be further examined, and we are currently collecting follow-up data from this sample to better understand how conversations and child outcomes may have changed over time.

Authors

• Shannon E Dier, University of Missouri - Columbia
  Presenting Author

• Rachel Thibodeau-Nielsen, University of Missouri - Columbia
  Non-Presenting Author

• Alaina Wilson, University of Missouri - Columbia
  Non-Presenting Author

• Rachel E White, Hamilton College
  Non-Presenting Author

• Francisco Palermo, University of Missouri - Columbia
  Non-Presenting Author