Associations between parent and child coping with COVID-19 and child psychopathology

• In Event: Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Topic - Social, Emotional, Personality

Abstract

COVID-19 is a multifaceted stressor for families, impacting health, economic, education, and social concerns. Coping with COVID-19 can be conceptualized using a Response to Stress framework (Compas et al., 2001). Engagement coping involves addressing the stressor and associated emotions and is composed of primary control coping (PCC; emotion regulation, problem-solving) and secondary control coping (SCC; cognitive restructuring). Conversely, disengagement coping orients away from the stressor and related emotions (DC; avoidance, denial). Engagement coping is typically associated with adaptive outcomes and disengagement coping is typically associated with negative outcomes (Compas et al, 2001). Parent modeling of coping strategies and parents’ explicit suggestions to their child about coping can also impact youths’ risk for psychopathology (Abaied & Rudolph, 2011). This study investigated the relationship between families coping with COVID-19 and child psychopathology.

A community sample of parents (N=204, M age=39.2, 72.1% female, 74.4% White) of 8-12-year-old children (M child age=10.1, 51.2% female, 69.1% White) living in the US were recruited online through Amazon Mechanical Turk in August 2020. The Response to Stress Questionnaires (RSQ; Connor-Smith et al., 2000; both adult self-report and parent-report on child) were used to measure parent and child coping related to COVID-19. A proportion score of the relative frequency of use of each type of coping strategy was calculated (α=.81-.85). The Socialization of Coping Questionnaire (Abaied & Rudolph, 2010) is a parent-report measure assessing parent suggestions to their child about coping with stress, adapted to ask for suggestions specifically related to COVID-19. Mean scores for each coping suggestion subtype were calculated; higher scores reflect higher frequencies of parent suggestions (α=.82-.91). The Pediatric Symptom Checklist (PSC; Jellinek & Murphy, 1998) is a parent-report measure assessing child emotional/behavioral problems. Higher scores indicate higher levels of adjustment problems (α=.81-.84).

Nine regression models were tested in SPSS: 3 sets of coping variables (parent coping, parent-report of child coping, and parent suggestions to child) x 3 outcomes (attention, internalizing, and externalizing problems). Models included parent and child gender and family SES as covariates and PCC, SCC, and DC as main effects. Lower family SES was significantly associated with higher levels of all child adjustment problems.

Regarding parent-report of child coping with COVID, greater use of both PCC and SCC strategies was significantly associated with fewer externalizing problems. Child use of SCC strategies was also significantly associated with fewer attention and internalizing problems. Regarding parents self-report of coping with COVID, greater parent use of SCC strategies was significantly associated with fewer child attention, internalizing, and externalizing problems. Regarding parent suggestions to their child about how to cope with COVID, more frequent SCC suggestions were marginally associated with fewer child internalizing problems and more frequent DC suggestions were marginally associated with greater externalizing problems.

A pattern emerged across many of our analyses, where parent and child use of SCC specifically (cognitive reframing, positive thinking) related to less child psychopathology. Future research should examine these relationships over time and include child-report of their coping.

Authors

• Maddy McClinchie, Nationwide Children’s Hospital
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sarah Stanger, Allegheny College
  Presenting Author