Caregiver Experiences of COVID-19-related Stressors and Use of Neglectful or Harsh Parenting Practices

• In Event: Effects of COVID-19 and the Pandemic Response on Families, Caregivers, and Children

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has activated an extensive public health response, including social distancing measures and mass school and child care closures across the US. Although necessary to reduce virus spread, these steps increase stress on households and time children spend at home during periods when they would typically be in school or childcare settings. Parents also have been impacted by the response, including navigating educational and childcare needs while coping with work disruption or loss, remote work, or other stressors due to the pandemic and these responses. Many have raised concern that this context increases risk that children will experience harsh or neglectful parenting. Further, since school and childcare providers are a primary means of detecting such risks, insight into these processes is minimized. The present study applies a family stress model to examine the association between parents’ experiences of COVID-19 related stressors and use of harsh or neglectful parenting behaviors. We hypothesized that elevated rates of household exposure to COVID-19 stressors would be associated with greater likelihood of both neglectful and harsh parenting practices, and that these associations would be mediated by ratings of caregiver pandemic-related distress, parental stress, and household economic strain.
Data were collected from a web-based panel of parents of children ages 0-18 years from a 6-state region in the northeastern US in Spring 2020. Measures included family exposure to COVID-related stressors, pandemic-related stress, parenting stress, economic strain, and reports of frequency of neglectful and harsh psychological or physical disciplinary practices toward a randomly-selected child in the household. A total of 2,068 parents completed the survey, which was weighted to reflect state, community (i.e., urban/suburban/rural), racial/ethnic, and household socioeconomic characteristics of the region. Nearly two-thirds of respondents were female, 76% were married or cohabitating with a partner, and 78% were under 45 years old. Average household composition included 2.14 adults and 1.73 children. Average age of randomly selected children was 8.2 years, and 49% were female.
Structural equation modeling was used to assess direct and indirect effects of household exposure to COVID-19 related stressors to parents’ use of neglectful, harsh psychological, or harsh physical discipline practices via three hypothesized pathways consistent with the family stress model: (1) COVID-19 related distress, (2) parenting stress, and (3) economic strain. All models controlled for caregiver, child, and household characteristics. Preliminary results (see Figure 1) indicated that increased household exposure to COVID-19 stressors was associated with increased likelihood of neglectful or harsh discipline, as well as with increased rates of COVID-19 related distress, parenting stress, and economic strain. Parenting stress was a primary mediator of each parenting practice; economic strain was a contributing mediator for neglectful and harsh physical practices, and pandemic-related stress for harsh psychological and physical discipline.
Results highlight the unique effects of different family stressors in mediating the effects of pandemic-related stressor experiences and parental use of neglectful and harsh parenting behaviors. These results have implications for reducing risk of maltreatment during periods public health crises and social distancing efforts.

Authors

• Christian M. Connell, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Presenting Author

• Michael J Strambler, Yale School of Medicine
  Non-Presenting Author