Parenting Stress and Challenges During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

The pandemic has been a challenge for everyone, but particularly so for parents. This symposium examines several domains in which parents have been particularly affected. Paper 1 examines whether parents experienced different changes in mental health problems in the beginning of the pandemic across three waves (late-March, mid-April, and end of April) than non-parents, finding that parents indeed had higher levels of anxiety and worry than non-parents. Paper 2 examines a particular source of worry for parents during the pandemic, namely food insecurity. Using a sample of 272 families already participating in a study of a school-based food assistance program, the authors find there was a steep increase in food insecurity early in the pandemic that was accompanied by an increase in parents’ levels of worry and depression. Paper 3 turns to the question of whether parents’ experiences of COVID-19-related stress affect their parenting; using a sample of parents in New Orleans, the study finds that higher levels of pandemic-related stress are associated with less frequent use of positive parenting practices. Paper 4 addresses a key concern of parents after stay at home orders were announced, namely helping their children with schoolwork. The authors have collected mentions of terms related to remote learning on Twitter and will examine how the tweets vary by education level. They will report the results of their analysis of 180 million tweets posted between February and June of 2020. Together, these papers provide glimpses into four key ways that the pandemic has affected parents.

Sub Unit

• Solicited Content: COVID-19 Related

Chair

• Elizabeth T. Gershoff, University of Texas at Austin

Individual Presentations

• Mental Health and Worries During the Pandemic: Are Parents Faring Worse Than Non-Parents? - Presenting Author: Shawna J. Lee, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor; Non-Presenting Author: Kaitlin Paxton Ward, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• The Implications of COVID-19 for Food Insecurity and Psychological Wellbeing: Evidence from Daily Diaries - Presenting Author: Samantha Steimle, Georgetown University; Non-Presenting Author: Caitlin Hines, Georgetown University; Non-Presenting Author: Anna D. Johnson, Georgetown University; Non-Presenting Author: Anna Gassman-Pines, Duke Univeristy; Non-Presenting Author: Rebecca Ryan, Georgetown University

• COVID-19-Related Parenting Stressors and Parenting Practices - Presenting Author: Komal C. Brown, Tulane University; Non-Presenting Author: Catherine A. Taylor, Boston College; Non-Presenting Author: Julia Fleckman, Tulane University

• The Kids are Not All Right: Educational Inequalities in the Time of COVID-19 - Presenting Author: Pamela Davis-Kean, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor; Non-Presenting Author: Rebecca Ryan, Georgetown University; Non-Presenting Author: Lisa Singh, Georgetown University; Non-Presenting Author: Nicholas Waters, Michigan State University; Non-Presenting Author: Samantha Steimle, Georgetown University