Dataset Information

Parenting and Adjustment Problems among Preschoolers during COVID-19.

ABSTRACT: A critical area of developmental science explores factors that confer risk or protection as young children and their families experience stressful circumstances related to sociohistorical events. This study contributes to this important area by assessing relations between family context and child adjustment as children transitioned from preschool to home learning during COVID-19, and whether children higher in stress levels, indexed by morning basal cortisol, were more strongly affected. Parents of 74 children (M _age = 53.56 months, SD _age = 3.68 months) completed reports spanning the home learning transition; children's pre-COVID-19 transition salivary cortisol levels were assessed. Path analyses were used to test the preregistered study aims. Significant interactions were decomposed using simple slopes and Preacher's Regions of Significance (ROS) method. Across the COVID-19 transition to home-based school, children with higher morning basal cortisol experienced the sharpest increase in anger when exposed to harsh/inconsistent parenting contexts. Importantly, these effects held when controlling for household chaos, socioeconomic resources, and supportive parenting. Parallel models with supportive parenting were also tested and are discussed. This study is one of the first to test and provide support for biological sensitivity to context theory within the context of a natural experiment like COVID-19.

SUBMITTER: Ostrov JM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9488881 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Parenting and Adjustment Problems among Preschoolers during COVID-19.

Ostrov Jamie M JM Murray-Close Dianna D Perry Kristin J KJ Perhamus Gretchen R GR Memba Gabriela V GV Rice Danielle R DR Nowalis Sarah S

Journal of child and family studies 20220920 1

A critical area of developmental science explores factors that confer risk or protection as young children and their families experience stressful circumstances related to sociohistorical events. This study contributes to this important area by assessing relations between family context and child adjustment as children transitioned from preschool to home learning during COVID-19, and whether children higher in stress levels, indexed by morning basal cortisol, were more strongly affected. Parents ...[more]

PMID: 36157198

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Project description:The COVID-19 pandemic has led to increased mental health concerns, including depression and anxiety among parents and internalizing and externalizing problems among youth. To better understand the mechanisms and moderators of child mental health during the pandemic, the current study tested two moderated mediation models in which parent depression and anxiety indirectly impacted child internalizing and externalizing problems through negative effects on multiple parenting variables, with these associations moderated by families' exposure to COVID-19-stressors. A national sample representative of U.S. parents (N = 796, 48.2% female, Mage = 38.87 years, 60.3% Non-Hispanic white, 18.1% Hispanic/Latinx, 13.2% Non-Hispanic Black/African-American, 5.7% Asian, 2.8% Other Race) completed a cross-sectional online survey in February-April 2021. Children ranged from 5-16 years old (Mage = 10.35 years, 59.8% Non-Hispanic white, 17.2% Hispanic/Latinx, 13.7% Non-Hispanic Black/African-American, 4.5% Asian, 4.8% Other Race). Parent depression/anxiety was directly and indirectly associated with child internalizing and externalizing problems. For both internalizing and externalizing problems, indirect associations occurred by means of increased parent hostility and inconsistent discipline and decreased routines and parent supportiveness. There were also specific indirect effects through decreased monitoring (internalizing problems) and parenting self-efficacy (externalizing problems). Multiple indirect effects were moderated by number of COVID-19-stressors experienced. Notably, COVID-19-stressors did not have direct effects on child mental health when other variables were considered. Findings highlight the buffering effects of parents for child mental health, the need to address parent depression/anxiety in child interventions, the utility of existing evidence-based parent interventions during the pandemic, and the need to assess families' level of exposure to COVID-19-stressors.

Dataset Information

Parenting and Adjustment Problems among Preschoolers during COVID-19.

Publications

Parenting and Adjustment Problems among Preschoolers during COVID-19.

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