Prospective contributions to parents’ mental health risk during COVID-19: Parent-child closeness predicts exacerbated depression outcomes

• In Event: Individual and Family Functioning in Vulnerable Populations During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Parents experience traumatic stress and mental health difficulties following a disaster more acutely than non-parent counterparts. It is clear that parental adjustment - and most notably parents’ depression - and relationship adjustment impact family and child outcomes during a crisis. A systems perspective tells us that close family relationships are bidirectional, and that while parents serve as the primary source of coping socialization for their children - and may serve in a buffering role to reduce the impacts of stress following a disaster - so too, do family relationships shape parents’ mental health. In short, the protective function of family relationships may influence parent mental health sequalae following the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the expected mental health impacts that often follow community-wide disasters (Galea et al., 2020), depression poses particular and enduring individual- and family-level risks (Kerns et al., 2014). The present study provides information about individual and relational stressors, and their impacts on clinically significant indicators of mental health risk during the U.S. COVID-19 crisis.
Data were collected through online surveys April 27-28, 2020, five weeks after the first U.S. quarantines began, and 30 days later. 156 parents caring for children younger than 18 completed both time points (average age 37.04 years; 50.0% female; see Table 1). Measures included demographic characteristics (age, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, partner status, employment status, and financial security), individual stress (Perceived Stress Scale, Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983; COVID-Stressors scale, Park et al., 2020) and regulation indicators (Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-Short Form, Kaufman, et al., 2016; Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, Spitzer et al., 2006; Major Depression Inventory, Olsen, et al., 2003), as well as relational factors at the parent and parent-child levels (Child-Parent Relationship Scale, Discoll & Pianta, 2011; Couple Satisfaction Index, Funk & Rogge, 2007). To explore the factors associated with risk for exacerbated depression (as indicated by scores of 20 or more on the MDI), a binary logistic regression was conducted using stepwise forward entry methods for all predictors.
The resulting model was significant, Beta(1) = -1.03, SE = .18, p < .001. Three predictor variables were retained in the final equation. Anxiety scores at time 1, (Beta = .276, SE = .082, p =.001, 95% CI = 1.12-1.55), parent perceived stress (Beta = .270, SE = .078, p = .001, 95% CI = 1.12-1.53), and Child-Parent Closeness subscale scores (Beta = -.392, SE = .094, p < .001, 95% CI = .56-.81) were significant predictors of clinically significant depression at the 30-day follow-up. Given that the beta estimates are presented in log-odds units, they can be interpreted as indicating the amount of increase (or decrease, if the sign of the coefficient is negative) in the predicted log odds of having scores on the MDI greater than 20. Thus, parents were more likely to have depression of clinical concern when anxiety and perceived stress were high, and closeness with children was low. Intervention implications derived from the contribution (or lack thereof) of predictors are presented, notably the strongest predictor: parent-child relationship quality.

Authors

• Beth S Russell, University of Connecticut
  Presenting Author

• Rachel Tambling, University of Connecticut
  Non-Presenting Author

• Abagail Lynn Horton, University of Connecticut
  Non-Presenting Author

• Morica Hutchison, University of Connecticut
  Non-Presenting Author

• Alexandria J Tomkunas, University of Connecticut
  Non-Presenting Author