Household Functioning and Child Wellbeing in the Midst of COVID-19: Evidence from Across the United States

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

COVID-19 has brought dramatic change to most American households, with sweeping stay-at-home orders and school closures. These unprecedented measures are expected to have meaningful impacts on household functioning, parent wellbeing, and children’s behavior and experiences learning at home. Papers on this panel document these impacts, finding that many parents have experienced financial strain due to employment changes, which has contributed to increased household chaos and parental stress. As parents juggle work and child care, including managing children’s online schooling, many children are exhibiting increased behavior and emotional problems and are struggling to adapt to remote learning.

Specifically, paper 1 uses data from weekly nationally representative surveys to document financial and material hardships among households with children, including low-income households who have disproportionately high rates of income loss. Paper 2 deepens this inquiry to link financial and material hardships to parental stress, depression and anxiety using survey data from four states. Paper 3 uses longitudinal data to document the pandemic’s causal impact on parent wellbeing and child behavioral functioning, reporting reductions in parent mental health, increased household chaos, and decreases in children’s positive behaviors. Paper 4 hones in on associations between COVID-related stressors and children’s participation in distance learning; they find chaos and structural barriers like lack of internet most strongly explained variation in children’s distance learning participation.

A lively discussion around implications of these results for efforts to support families and children in this unprecedented moment is expected, moderated by a chairperson with expertise in child development and public policy.

Sub Unit

• Solicited Content: COVID-19 Related

Chair

• Anna D. Johnson, Georgetown University

Individual Presentations

• Structural Inequalities Based on Race/Ethnicity and Income are Increasing During the Pandemic: Results From the RAPID-EC National Survey - Presenting Author: Philip Andrew Fisher, University of Oregon; Non-Presenting Author: Sara Weston, University of Oregon

• Child- and Family- Wellbeing Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic - Non-Presenting Author: Marissa Strassberger, MDRC; Non-Presenting Author: Michelle F. Maier, MDRC (Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation) - New York City; Non-Presenting Author: Joann Hsueh, MDRC (Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation) - New York City; Presenting Author: Mervett Hefyan, MDRC (Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation) - New York City; Non-Presenting Author: Sharon Huang, MDRC; Non-Presenting Author: Amena Sengal, MDRC (Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation) - New York City

• The Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Family Wellbeing and Child Behaviors - Presenting Author: Emily Hanno, MDRC (Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation) - New York City; Non-Presenting Author: Jorge Cuartas, Harvard University; Non-Presenting Author: Stephanie M Jones, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Non-Presenting Author: Nonie Lesaux, Harvard Graduate School of Education

• When Home Becomes School: Factors Predicting Engagement in Distance Learning - Presenting Author: Sherri L Castle, University of Oklahoma; Non-Presenting Author: Anne Martin, Georgetown University; Non-Presenting Author: Anne Partika, Georgetown University; Non-Presenting Author: Diane M. Horm, University of Oklahoma-Tulsa; Non-Presenting Author: Anna D. Johnson, Georgetown University