Examining 3-to-6-Year-Old Children’s Behavioral and Emotional Difficulties During the COVID-19 Outbreak

• In Event: Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Topic - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic has been affecting children’s lives by influencing a number of factors including parents’ work settings, families’ economic conditions, lessened contact with non-parental caregivers and other loved ones. Although COVID-19 seems to be less detrimental for children compared to adults, initial reports indicate that the pandemic has been impacted children’s well-being (Jiao et al., 2020). The fear, uncertainty, and unfamiliar physical and social isolation has been regarded as threats to their behavioral and emotional development. Understanding their behavioral and emotional difficulties is critical to properly address their needs during this pandemic and probable future disasters. It was reported that sleep problems, poor appetite, physical discomfort, attention problems, clinginess, and separation anxiety were among the most encountered conditions during the pandemic (Jiao et al., 2020). During the lock-down children were legally forced to stay home in Turkey to avoid over contagion for a long period. It was reported that children between 3 and 6 years of age were more likely to manifest symptoms, such as clinginess and health related fears compared to older children (Jiao et al., 2020). Thus, the main aim of this study is to examine the predicting role of COVID-19 related difficulties, interparental conflict (IPC), parental psychological symptoms, and parental emotion socialization practices on children’s behavioral and emotional difficulties.
Participants were 198 parents (Mage = 34.3, 94.4% mothers) and their children (Mmonth = 51.1, range: 34-72, 52% girls). Parents completed the O'Leary-Porter Conflict Scale (Porter & O’Leary, 1980), the Brief Symptom Inventory (Derogatis, 1992), the Coping with Children’s Negative Emotions Scale (Fabes, Eisenberg, & Bernzweig, 1990), and the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman, 2001). Online survey was shared via social media and filled in anonymously from June to July, 2020.
We planned to control four variables: (1) families’ income, (2) COVID-19 related income decrease, (3) having a nuclear family member infected by the virus, and (4) whether they or their partner had to work outside of the home. However because of these variables did not correlated with the other study variable, we excluded them from the analysis. IPC and parental psychological symptoms were controlled by entering in the first step of linear regression, and parental emotion socialization practices were entered in the second step.
Results showed that parental psychological symptoms and IPC positively predicted children’s both behavioral and emotional difficulties. Parental distress and minimization reactions to children’s negative emotions negatively predicted children’s behavioral difficulties. And parental punitive emotion socialization practices positively predicted children’s behavioral difficulties. Parental problem focused reactions to children’s negative emotions marginally negatively (p = .074) predicted children’s emotional difficulties.
Findings of the current study has shown that parental psychological symptoms and IPC play important roles on children’s difficulties during COVID-19 outbreak. After controlling these two variables, it seems that parental distress, punitive, and minimization reactions to children’s difficult emotions pose risks for especially their behavioral difficulties. In contrast, only parental problem focused reactions to children’s difficult emotions seemed to play a marginally protective role for children’s emotional difficulties.

Author

• Zülal İşcanoğlu, Ankara Medipol University
  Presenting Author