The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on parental stress and young children’s development during self-isolation

• In Event: The Covid-19 pandemic impact on parenting of young children in the U.S., China, and Israel

Abstract

While recent reports acknowledge the pandemic impact on family routines and dynamics, little is known about pandemic impact on parents’ psychological wellbeing, such as parental stress. In fact, existing studies consistently reveal a mediation role of parental stress and children’s wellbeing (Whiteson & Kaufman, 2017). Because families my experience disproportionate impact due to their socioeconomic (SES) and ethnic background (Tai et al., 2020), this study investigated potential risk factors of parental stress that young children’s parents with consideration of family SES and ethnic backgrounds.
Method: this study utilized online-survey method and recruited 212 parents (73% mother, 45.3% non-white parents) of preschool age in early May, 2020. The online survey included check-list items of family direct and community exposure to COVID-19, the length of physical-distancing time at home, home activities, and the availability of teacher support. Parental stress was captured by using Parental Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-4, Abidin, 2012), which includes three dimensions of stress, parental distress (parents’ general emotional state, PD), parent-child dysfunctional interaction (parent-child conflicts, PCDI), and difficult child (child behavioral and emotional difficulties, DC)
Results and Discussion: Paired t-test suggested significant increases of all dimensions of parental stress. PD, t(211) = 10.01, p<.0001, Cohen’s d=.48, PCDI, t(211) = 9.50, p< .0001 Cohen’s d =.29, and DC, t(211) = 7.63, p<.0001, Cohen’s d=.34 during the pandemic. Based on parents’ PSI scores, close to 50% of parents can be considered clinically depressed. Repeated measure ANOVA analyses showed that minority parents perceived significantly higher stress in all domains of parental stress than did Caucasian parents, and minority parents’ stress increased significantly greater during the pandemic than did Caucasian parents (see Table 1). Regression analyses (see Table 2) suggested that educational level is a significant protective factor of parental stress during the pandemic. Mothers perceived higher stress related to children’s behavioral and emotional problems than did father. The parents from higher income families reported significantly higher stress related to general emotional state and parent-child interactions than did the parents from lower-income families. Family exposure to COVID-19 did not show significant association with parental stress in the dimensions of PD and DC, but had significant inverse association with PCDI. The length of social-distancing time also showed marginal inverse association with DC. At the same time, parent-perceived impact on family interactions was significantly associated with all domains of parental stress. These finding may suggest family resilience during the pandemic and parents’ efforts of buffering pandemic impact to children. Teachers’ support also showed significant association with increasing parental stress, specifically related to parent-perceived child behavioral or emotional difficulties. This finding may highlight the necessities of reviewing the effectiveness of professional supports to parents during the pandemic. Professional support, if not planned with consideration of parents’ need, may overwhelm parents. This study revealed the necessity of implementing trauma-informed approach when providing remote support to families.

Authors

• Chenyi Zhang, Georgia State University
  Presenting Author

• Wei Qiu, Weber State University
  Non-Presenting Author