Parenting under pressure: A mixed-methods investigation of the impact of COVID-19 on family life

Abstract

Background: development and implementation of effective family-based psychosocial intervention and treatment strategies during COVID-19 will require a detailed understanding of how the virus has impacted the lives of families.

Methods: written reports on the life impacts of COVID-19 for parents (n = 56) and their children (n = 43), and a questionnaire assessing parent positive and negative affect, were collected between April and May 2020. An inductive approach was used to identify themes in written reports, followed by statistical analysis to explore associations between themes and changes in parent positive and negative affect pre- and post-writing.

Results: parents and children reported both positive and negative psychosocial impacts of the virus, though parents expressed a greater diversity of positive themes than children. Common themes reported by parents included concerns about the impact of COVID-19 on their children, health concerns for others, and the stressful balancing act of parenting, assisting with children's school work, and working from home. Many parents reported gratitude, and reflected on the upsides of the pandemic for family relationships and parent-child bonding. Parents who expressed gratitude reported a decrease in negative affect pre- to post-writing. Common child-reported themes included yearning to return to school, pandemic-related fears, and longing for social connection.

Limitations: the sample included a cross-section of mostly White (non-Hispanic), dual income, well-educated mothers, primarily from the United States.

Conclusions: both parents and children reported reduced wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Future research should focus on identifying how to fulfill children's social needs and lessen caregivers' burdens during this time.

Keywords: COVID-19; Child; Mixed-methods; Pandemic; Parent; Qualitative.

Fig. 1

Citation frequency of themes in child written reports as a function of child age. A table representing the number of children of each age is represented on the left. Theme citation as a function of age group is represented in the graph on the right. Themes are represented on the Y-axis and age (binned in 4-year groups) is represented on the X-axis. Each child in the study was given a binary code (1, yes; 0, no) if they cited a theme in their written report. The frequency of citation for each age group is indicated by the size of the bubble, with larger bubbles indicating a higher frequency of citation in the group.

Fig. 2

Mean difference in parent PANAS negative affect scores pre- to post- reflective writing as a function of theme citation. PANAS negative affect scores decreased pre- to post-reflective writing in parents who cited the theme perspective taking and gratitude in their written reports (right bar), whereas parents who did not cite this theme reported an increase in negative affect pre- to post-reflective writing (left bar). Error bars reflect between- (rather than within-) person error. Scores above zero indicate an average increase in parent negative affect from pre- to post-writing in that group, whereas scores below zero indicate an average decrease in parent negative affect from pre- to post-writing in that group (as illustrated by the red and green arrows). (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)