The Intergenerational Transmission of Stress During COVID-19: Highlighting Parent Mental Health and Sociodemographic Factors

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Although COVID19 has created widespread disruptions to family life, pandemic-related stress is expected to have differential impacts on children based on parent capacities to provide supportive and responsive caregiving in this unpredictable context. We draw on large mixed-methods international (Australia, New Zealand, UK, Canada, USA) data from April – July 2020 to examine how family stressors are linked to parent-child relationships and child mental health during the pandemic.

Study 1 (N = 385) highlights increases in child mental health problems across a range of internalizing, externalizing, and trauma-related symptoms. Parent perceptions of COVID19-related worry, mental health, and harsh parenting are associated with poor child well-being.

Study 2 (N = 377 dyads) examines parent-child fear regulation. Findings emphasize parent modelling and emotional contagion as candidate contributors to child distress as opposed to the direct communication of threat information.

Study 3 (N = 2635) describes the impacts of daycare and school cancellations on maternal mental health (depression, anxiety, anger) amongst pregnant women, with variable impacts based on work from home-status.

Study 4 (N = 555) reports on a range on family and socioeconomic stressors associated with the parenting of young children during the pandemic. Across 7 domains, parent depression was a key predictor of more negative and less positive parenting practices.

Across samples, key vulnerability factors for intergenerational impacts include: socioeconomic disadvantage, pre-existing mental health problems, and loss of childcare. We build on these findings to describe our ongoing efforts to mitigate long-term impacts of COVID19 through basic science, clinical and policy-linked efforts.

Sub Unit

• Solicited Content: COVID-19 Related

Chair

• Leslie E. Roos, University of Manitoba

Individual Presentations

• Parenting and child mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic - Presenting Author: Sarah Lauren Whittle, University of Melbourne; Non-Presenting Author: Sylvia Chu Lin; Non-Presenting Author: Orli Schwartz, University of Melbourne

• Parenting Under Pressure: A mixed-methods study on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on parent-child fear regulation and family life - Presenting Author: Bridget Callaghan, Columbia; Non-Presenting Author: Chloe Schwartz, University of California - Los Angeles; Non-Presenting Author: Kristen A. Chu, University of California - Los Angeles; Non-Presenting Author: Emily Towner, University of California, Los Angeles; Non-Presenting Author: Nadine Angele Kasparian, Cincinnati Children's Hospital; Non-Presenting Author: Natalie Hiromi Brito, New York University; Non-Presenting Author: Alejandra Lemus, New York University

• Pregnant and Parenting During the COVID-19 Pandemic - Presenting Author: Gerald Giesbrecht, University of Calgary (U of C); Non-Presenting Author: Lianne M Tomfohr-Madsen, The University of Calgary; Non-Presenting Author: Catherine Lebel, University of Calgary, AB

• Parenting Quality and Household Needs During the COVID-19 Pandemic - Presenting Author: Leslie E. Roos, University of Manitoba; Non-Presenting Author: Marlee Salisbury, University of Manitoba; Non-Presenting Author: Lara Penner-Goeke, University of Winnipeg; Non-Presenting Author: Emily E Cameron, University of Manitoba; Non-Presenting Author: Jennifer Protudjer, University of Manitoba; Non-Presenting Author: Ryan Giuliano, University of Manitoba; Non-Presenting Author: Tracie Afifi, University of Manitoba; Non-Presenting Author: Kristin Reynolds, University of Manitoba