Longitudinal Relationship between Early Childhood Emotion Regulation and Child-Parent Relationship Outcomes During the COVID-19 Pandemic

• In Event: Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Topic - Solicited Content: COVID-19 Related

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has immediately impacted families. Daily routines, which provide structure and help families manage stress, have been heavily impacted by quarantine conditions, school and childcare facility closures, and work-from-home orders. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the economic stability of many American families, producing national unemployment rates that peaked above 14% in the summer of 2020, potentially compounding stressors for families shouldering the high costs of childcare. Past research has shown that parents play critical roles in supporting their children during community-wide disasters; these conditions place parents in particularly vulnerable positions due to increased stressors and responsibilities, putting parents at risk of experiencing caregiver burden (Fussell & Lowe, 2014; Russell, et al., 2020). Parent-specific stressors may be heightened for parents of young children, from managing changes in childcare to scaffolding healthy behaviors and helping young children with still-developing self-regulation skills cope with disruption. Notably, parent distress during disasters immediately impacts children’s experiences of distress and caregiver burden (Kerns et al., 2014; Kılıç, Kılıç, & Aydın, 2011; Masten, & Narayan, 2012). This study explores the longitudinal relationship between parent perceived child stress, child emotion regulation ability, family stressors related to COVID disruptions, and caregiver burden on parent-child relationship quality 30 days later.

Eighty-two parents of children aged birth to 5, living in the United States, completed an online survey between April 27-28, 2020, and a follow-up survey 30 days later. Parent participants (48.8% female; see Table 1) reported a mean age of 32.05 years, 32.9% of whom reported a racial minority identity, 11.0% identified as LatinX. Measures included the Perceived Stress Scale – Child form (Beaumont et al., 2013); Emotion Regulation Checklist (ERC; Shileds & Cicchetti, 1997); COVID-19-specific Stressors (COVID-stressors; Park, et al., 2020); Burden Scale for Family Caregivers (BSFC-s; Graessel et al., 2014); and Child-Parent Relationship Scale (CPRS; Driscoll & Pianta, 2011). Two separate models employed multiple linear regression to examine longitudinal predictors of 1) closeness and 2) conflict with their young children after a 30-day period.

Significant results indicate moderate amounts of variance in both relationship outcomes is explained in relationship closeness and conflict, respectively (adjusted R squares = 49% and 29%, p<.05). The more robust, final model for parent-child closeness includes parents’ perceptions of child stress (B=-.43, p<.001) and their child emotion regulation skills (B=.27, p<.05), but excludes caregiver burden, COVID-specific stress appraisals, and several demographic characteristics previously reported as meaningful to relationship quality during a crisis (e.g., child age, and measures of socioeconomic status). By contrast, results for the parent-child conflict outcome begin by accounting for financial resources (B=-.17, p<.05) - the effect of which is no longer significant once parents’ perceptions of their child’s emotion regulation skills - specifically, negativity (B=.50, p<.001) - is entered via stepwise entry. These results indicate a pattern of significant influences on parents’ perceptions of their relationships with their young children, stressing the importance of children’s emotion regulation skills during a crisis above and beyond parent and family level factors (e.g., caregiver burden, parent stress appraisals, or child age).

Authors

• Alexandria J Tomkunas, University of Connecticut
  Presenting Author

• Beth S Russell, University of Connecticut
  Non-Presenting Author

• Rachel Tambling, University of Connecticut
  Non-Presenting Author