Caregiver Burdens and Children’s Behavioral Problems amid COVID-19: The Roles of Stress and Resilience

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

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented social, emotional, and economic challenges in families, potentially leading to children’s negative developmental outcomes (Cluver et al., 2020; Golberstein et al., 2020; Prime et al., 2020; Van Lancker & Parolin, 2020). To better understand the COVID-19-related experiences of young children and their families, this study explores roles of primary caregivers’ (PCGs) stress and resilience on the associations between increased burdens amid COVID-19 and children’s behavioral problems.

We collected survey data from 109 PCGs of young children, and interview data from 34 survey participants in South Korea. Participants were recruited by snowball sampling. The Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation (Short) (Kim, 2016; LaFreniere & Dumas, 1996) was used to assess PCG-perceived children’s behavioral problems (i.e., anxiety-withdrawal and anger-aggression). Two categorical items measured increases in PCGs’ house chores and child-care burdens during COVID-19. PCGs’ perceived stress was assessed using the Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen et al., 1983; Park & Seo, 2010). Resilience was measured using the Brief Resilience Scale (Smith et al., 2008). PCG’s educational attainment, household income, PCG being a mom, and disrupted ECE access were included as covariates.

We first analyzed descriptive statistics (Table 1) and interview data (open coding and a phenomenological approach). More than half of PCGs experienced increased burdens and children’s behavioral changes amid COVID-19. Qualitative findings show that PCGs’ increased burdens can be attributed to ECE facility closures, and the inability to go out due to the COVID-19 risks. PCGs felt “difficult” or even extremely depressed or stressed about this situation, and often reacted to children with annoyance. However, they also perceived this situation as an “opportunity” to have intimate time with children. Children’s behavioral changes were mostly related to being accustomed to wearing masks in daily lives, many becoming obsessive about it.

Second, we conducted a path analysis to test the hypothesized mediation and moderation in Stata 13.0 (Figure 1). The missing data were handled using the Full Information Maximum Likelihood (FIML) estimation. Our hypothesized models fitted adequately: χ2(14)=9.904, p=.77, RMSEA=.00, 90% CI [.000, .066], CFI=1.00. No direct associations were found between increased house chore burdens and children’s behavioral problems, whereas increased child-care burdens was significantly associated with anger-aggression (β=.18, p<.05) and marginally with anxiety-withdrawal (β=.16, p=.092) (a paths). PCGs’ stress significantly mediated the association between increased house chore burdens and anger-aggression (indirect: β=.09, p<.05), and marginally mediated the association with anxiety-withdrawal (indirect: β=.65, p=.065) (b*c paths). When PCGs’ resilience was entered as a moderator in the model (d and e), the indirect association between stress and anger-aggression disappeared. However, resilience significantly moderated the association between stress and anxiety-withdrawal (β=-.47, p<.05). No significant mediating or moderating associations were found for increased child-care burdens in our primary models. PCG’s perception of the COVID-19 situation as an opportunity for high-quality relationships with children may explain the non-significant findings.

The current findings suggest that interventions promoting positive stress management may help with PCGs’ COVID-19-related burdens. Particularly, enhancing PCG’s resilience could be a key strategy in such interventions.

Authors

• Sooyeon Byun, University of Virginia - Charlottesville
  Presenting Author

• Lieny Jeon, University of Virginia - Charlottesville
  Non-Presenting Author

• Robert E. Slavin, Johns Hopkins University
  Non-Presenting Author