Parents’ Emotion Regulation Styles and Changes in Parenting Behavior during the COVID-19 Pandemic

• In Event: Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: PS 10 Topic - Solicited Content: COVID-19 Related

Abstract

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has drastically changed multiple aspects of everyday life. Unexpected changes, including school and childcare closures, and working from home or other job changes, have placed burdens on parents in establishing a new daily routine, possibly exacerbating existing parental stress. In fact, research has shown that parents are experiencing increased psychological distress since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, which increased risk of harsh parenting and child maltreatment (Chung et al., 2020). Previous research has identified parents’ emotion regulation as a predictor of parenting behavior (Lindhiem & Shaffer, 2017). For instance, adaptive emotion regulation (e.g., cognitive reappraisal) is associated with less harsh parenting, while maladaptive emotion regulation (e.g., emotion suppression) is linked to more harsh parenting (Crandall et al., 2015). Cognitive reappraisal involves attaching meaning to an emotion-eliciting situation to either decrease or increase an emotional response, while emotion suppression involves attempting to reduce an emotional response once an emotion is elicited. Parents’ capacities to regulate their emotions effectively allow them to assess stressors and respond appropriately. In the face of crisis, these capacities and their abilities to engage in quality parenting may be compromised (Deater-Deckard et al., 2012). This study examines the associations between parents’ emotion regulation styles and their parenting behaviors during COVID-19.

In April 2020, data were collected from 1,009 parents (89.2% mothers, 81.8% White) of children under the age of 13, regarding parents’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (Gross & John, 2003) was used to assess parents’ emotion regulation styles (i.e., cognitive reappraisal, emotion suppression) using a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Parents were asked about changes in their use of five negative parenting behaviors (yelling, having conflicts with their children, using discipline, spanking, ignoring) since the beginning of COVID-19 using a 3-point scale (0=less than usual, 1=the same as usual, 2=more than usual).

Multinomial logistic regressions (see Table 1) revealed that parents with higher cognitive reappraisal scores were more likely to report that they were yelling, having conflicts with their children, and ignoring their children less than usual or the same as usual (compared to more than usual) since the start of the pandemic. Parents with higher emotion suppression scores were more likely to report ignoring their children more than usual, compared to the same as usual.

Overall, these results support associations between parents’ emotion regulation styles and changes in their parenting behaviors. Parents who use more cognitive reappraisal were less likely to report increases in negative parenting strategies, suggesting that cognitive reappraisal might play a protective role in the face of severe stress such as COVID-19. Parents using more emotion suppression were more likely to report ignoring their children more than usual, which could increase the risk of neglectful parenting over time. Interventions targeting emotion regulation skills may be important during times of increased parenting stress, such as a global pandemic.

Authors

• Jiwon Yoon, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Presenting Author

• Siri Nibhanupudi, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Non-Presenting Author

• Margaret L. Kerr, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Non-Presenting Author