Parenting Pandemic Style: The Effects of Stress and Decision Fatigue on Feeding and Activity Behavior Change During Quarantine

• In Event: Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: PS 10 Topic - Solicited Content: COVID-19 Related

Abstract

Emerging empirical findings demonstrate links between COVID-19 and increased psychological distress (Bao et al. 2020), but less research has been conducted on how perceived stress from COVID-19 is related to changes in parenting practices during the pandemic. Indeed, parents provide an environment and opportunities for their children to engage in a healthy lifestyle (Rhee, 2008). However, research (e.g., Pietrobelli, 2020; Xiang et al., 2020) has documented substantial decreases in children’s physical activity and worsening of children’s diet during the ongoing stay at home orders, suggesting potential changes in food and activity parenting behaviors during COVID-19. A greater understanding of how stress from an external threat such as a pandemic impacts daily food and activity parenting practices can have important implications for public policy and the implementation of empirically-supported lifestyle guidelines during public health crises (Balanzá-Martínez, 2020). Accordingly, this study examined the extent to which parents’ food and activity parenting has changed during the pandemic and whether parents’ perceived stress, a factor linked to parenting and children’s health behavior (Crnic & Low, 2002 in Bornstein, 2002; El-Behadli et al., 2015; O’Connor et al., 2019) is related to such changes. We also assessed whether decision fatigue-- the phenomenon where one’s cognitive stamina for decision making becomes drained, resulting in depleted self-control resources (Vohs et al. 2008) interacts with stress to predict feeding and activity parenting.

One-hundred and forty parents from a mid-sized metropolitan city in the Midwest completed a questionnaire examining stress, decision fatigue, and parental behavior change during COVID-19. Descriptive statistics showed that overall, a greater proportion of parents engaged primarily in positive food and activity parenting practices (57.14%) than negative food and activity parenting practices (22.86%) during the pandemic. Demographic differences also emerged with lower income participants reporting higher levels of stress and perceived increases in decision fatigue than middle- and upper-income participants. Additionally, non-married participants had higher levels of perceived increases in decision fatigue than married participants. Results from moderated linear regression showed that the negative relation between stress and positive parental behavior changes was stronger at higher perceived increases in decision fatigue during the pandemic. Specifically, for participants who reported below average (-1 standard deviation) levels of decision fatigue change, there was no effect of stress on parental behavior change (b = 0.00, t(113) = 0.03, p =.97). However, for participants who reported average or high levels of decision fatigue increases, there was a significant negative relation between stress and parental behavior change (b = -.26, t(113) = -2.77, p < .01; b = -.52, t(113) = -3.49, p < .001, respectively).

Findings from the current study suggest that in the face of a major pandemic, parents may actually be engaging in higher levels of healthy parenting practices than they were before the pandemic--exposing adaptive behavior changes that are emerging in the presence of significant loss. Further, the relation between stress, decision fatigue, and health parenting highlights the importance of support for parents during this time.

Authors

• Harrison Drew Angoff, Bowling Green State University
  Presenting Author

• Lauren Ann Dial, California State University, Fresno
  Non-Presenting Author

• Viktoria Varga, Bowling Green State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sneha Kamath, Bowling Green State University
  Non-Presenting Author