Parent-Child Relationships During COVID-19: Intersectional Themes Across Development, Culture, and Race

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

The international COVID-19 pandemic has led to heightened levels of stress and worry for many, but especially for parents and children who must deal with changes to work, school, and social relations, in addition to universal health concerns. However, the impact that COVID-19 has exacted varies significantly as a function of a myriad of contextual factors, including the child’s age, the racial/ethnic background of the family, and their country of origin. Our presentations provide an intersectional and transactional approach to understanding the impact of the pandemic on families.

First, Group 1 will discuss findings that psychological functioning, self-efficacy, and grief during the pandemic predict parent-infant bonding in pregnant/post-partum women (N=429) from the U.S. Next, using data from a 2.5-year longitudinal study of U.S. mothers and preschoolers (N=88), Group 2 will demonstrate that mothers who increase their emotion suppression during the pandemic and have lower distress tolerance show lower levels of child-focused reflective functioning. Then, Group 3 will share findings from a study of first-generation Chinese-American parents of 4-to-18 year-olds (N=500) – their findings indicate that the degree to which parents engage in racial-ethnic socialization to protect their children from COVID-19-related racism is associated with children’s psychological adjustment, and this varies by child age. Finally, Group 4 will present the results of a cross-cultural study of parents of school-aged children in two of the hardest hit nations (U.S.: N = 306; Italy: N = 600), which show that patterns of association between COVID-19 trauma exposure, parent psychopathology, and child psychopathology vary cross-nationally.

Sub Unit

• Solicited Content: COVID-19 Related

Chair

• Jessica L Borelli, University of California - Irvine

Individual Presentations

• Psychological Risks to Mother-Infant Bonding During the COVID-19 Pandemic - Presenting Author: Cindy H. Liu, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School; Non-Presenting Author: Sunah Hyun, Tufts University; Non-Presenting Author: Leena Mittal; Non-Presenting Author: Carmina Erdei, Harvard Medical School

• Predictors of Change in Mothers’ Reflective Functioning During the COVID-19 Pandemic - Presenting Author: Patricia A Smiley, Pomona College; Non-Presenting Author: Cindy H. Liu, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School; Non-Presenting Author: Stacey N Doan, Claremont Mckenna College

• Age-varying Associations Between Chinese American Parents’ Racial-ethnic Socialization and Children’s Difficulties During the COVID-19 Pandemic - Presenting Author: Huiguang Ren, University of Maryland - Baltimore County; Non-Presenting Author: Charissa S. L. Cheah, University of Maryland - Baltimore County; Non-Presenting Author: Suqing Wang, University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Non-Presenting Author: Hyun Su Cho, University of Maryland - Baltimore County; Non-Presenting Author: Xiaoli Zong, University of Maryland - Baltimore County; Non-Presenting Author: Cixin Wang, Unversity of Maryland

• Parent Psychological Well-being and its Association with Child Well-being During COVID-19 Across Cultures - Presenting Author: Jocelyn Lai, University of California - Irvine; Non-Presenting Author: Phoebe T Pham, University of California, Irvine; Non-Presenting Author: Jordan Bate, Yeshiva University; Non-Presenting Author: Peipei Setoh, Nanyang Technological University; Non-Presenting Author: Gianluca Esposito, University of Trento; Non-Presenting Author: Jessica L Borelli, University of California - Irvine