Infant Problem Behavior and Parenting Stress: Prospective Predictors of Parental Pandemic-Related Distress

• In Event: The COVID-19 pandemic, family stressors and the efficacy of brief family interventions

Abstract

A pandemic represents a macrolevel event with an unknown time-frame that may be experienced differently across individuals, depending on a number of factors. Factors such as mental health and family dynamics may play a particularly important role in how parents feel during a pandemic. Such factors have been shown to be important in how people feel following natural disasters (Bokszczanin, 2008) and other major stressful events (North & Pfefferbaum, 2013). Most studies, however, examine correlates of stress responses concurrently or after the event. The present study takes a prospective approach by examining how underlying conditions prior to COVID-19 such as mental health, parenting stress, parenting competence, and challenging infant behaviors predict parents’ feelings of distress related to COVID-19 (Pandemic-Related Distress; PRD).

Prior to COVID-19, parents of infants were participating in a randomized controlled trial designed to promote parent sensitivity, couples’ communication skills, or both. The design involved a pre-test (at 6 months), 8-week intervention phase, and 3 post-tests/follow-ups (12, 16, and 18 months). In May, 2020, we sent all families who had completed the intervention phase of the project, including those who had completed the study, a survey asking a series of questions (27 items) about their feelings and other changes (e.g., childcare) during the pandemic. Of the 235 families who were eligible, 118 completed surveys were returned.

In this subsample, 87 mothers and 31 fathers (different families) completed the survey. The mean age of infants at survey completion was 25-months (8.5 - 43.4 mo.), 44% of the infants were girls, 20% had insufficient income, and 26% were minorities. Measures were assessed at each wave such as the Inventory for Depressive and Anxious Symptoms (IDAS; Watson et al., 2007), Parenting Stress Index (PSI; Abadin, 2012, Parenting Competence, Satisfaction, and Efficacy (Johnston & Mash, 1989), and the Brief Infant Toddler Social Emotional Assessment (BITSEA; Briggs-Gowan & Carter, 2006). For the purposes of the present study, we focus on data from the 12- and 18-month visits in addition to data from the pandemic survey.

Principal Components Analyses of 12 items relating to worry about getting sick, stress about the virus, stress about childcare, and other issues indicated an overall component with loadings ranging from .43 - .74 justifying the creation of a composite score (PRD). Age of the child at the time of survey completion, which parent completed the PRD, and intervention status (none vs. any) were not significantly related to PRD. A number of preliminary correlations between pre-pandemic infant and parent measures and PRD were significant and are depicted in Table 1. Specifically, parents who rated their infant higher in behavior problems, themselves higher in depressive and anxious symptoms and parenting stress, or themselves lower in satisfaction, competence, and efficacy prior to the pandemic reported higher levels of pandemic related distress. Future analyses will test mediational mechanisms in the prediction of PRD. These results have implications for supporting parents who are already facing intra- and interpersonal challenges during a pandemic.

Author

• Julie M Braungart-Rieker, Colorado State University
  Presenting Author