Self-Compassion Moderates the Association between COVID-19 Stress and Parenting Stress in Parents of Toddlers

• In Event: Parenting and Children’s Socioemotional Adjustment During COVID-19 Through a Multi-Level Ecological Systems Perspective

Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has been a major source of stress, especially on parents; stress levels among U.S. adults are higher since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with parents reporting higher levels of pandemic-related stress than non-parents (APA, 2020). For parents with young children, these heightened stress levels combined with the disruptions in childcare during the pandemic (RAPID-EC, 2020) could contribute to greater levels of stress regarding parenting their children. Self-compassion— encompassing self-kindness, self-forgiveness, a sense of one’s humanity, and mindfulness (Neff, 2003)— may be a powerful buffer against stress; parents who are more compassionate towards themselves demonstrate lower levels of parenting stress (Gouveia et al., 2016). Our goal was to investigate the association between coronavirus-related stress and parenting stress in parents of toddlers and whether self-compassion moderated this association. Hypotheses: We hypothesized that COVID-19 stress and changes in childcare as a result of the pandemic would both be positively associated with parenting stress. In addition, we hypothesized that greater self-compassion would buffer these associations between COVID-19 stress, childcare changes, and parenting stress. Study population: 116 parents (109 mothers, 7 fathers) of 18- to 36-month-olds (M=25.0, SD=4.8, 65 female) participated in the study. Parents were recruited from a departmental participant registry, flyers at local daycare centers, and online postings. The sample was predominantly White and non-Hispanic/Latinx (n=104), about half of the parents had a master’s degree or higher (n=57), and the average annual household income was $128,281 (SD=$63,648). Methods: Parents completed an online Qualtrics survey that included items about COVID-19 impacts on their family, self-compassion, compassion, empathy, and parenting stress. Self-compassion, compassion towards others, and empathy were assessed by parent self-report using the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS; Neff, 2003), The Compassion Scale (CS; Pommier et al., 2019), and the perspective taking and empathic concern subscales of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI; Davis, 1980), respectively. Parents reported on whether their childcare arrangements had changed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and how stressful the pandemic has been for them overall on a 5-point Likert scale from “Not at all stressful” to “Extremely stressful.” Parenting stress was measuring via parent self-report on the Parental Stress Scale (PSS; Berry & Jones, 1995). Results: There was no difference in parenting stress by whether or not families had experienced changes in their childcare arrangements (t=-0.79, p=0.43). COVID-19 stress was significantly positively associated with parenting stress (B=3.28, p<0.001) and self-compassion moderated the association between COVID-19 stress and parenting stress (B=-5.98, p<0.001), accounting for 42% of the variance in parenting stress (Table 1). For parents with higher self-compassion, there was no association between COVID-19 and parenting stress (Figure 1), compared to a positive association in parents with average and lower self-compassion. Neither compassion towards others (B=-4.46, p=0.05) nor empathy (B=-0.69, p=0.70) moderated the association between COVID-19 stress and parenting stress. For parents of toddlers, high self-compassion may help buffer the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on parenting stress. These findings may have important implications for potential parenting and family support services.
 

Authors

• Emily Reilly, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Presenting Author

• Bonny Donzella, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Non-Presenting Author

• Shanna B. Mliner, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Non-Presenting Author

• Megan R. Gunnar, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Non-Presenting Author