The aim of the present study was to examine parental experiences of homeschooling during the COVID-19 pandemic in families with or without a child with a mental health condition across Europe. The study included 6720 parents recruited through schools, patient organizations and social media platforms (2002 parents with a child with a mental health condition and 4718 without) from seven European countries: the UK (n = 508), Sweden (n = 1436), Spain (n = 1491), Belgium (n = 508), the Netherlands (n = 324), Germany (n = 1662) and Italy (n = 794). Many parents reported negative effects of homeschooling for themselves and their child, and many found homeschooling to be of poor quality, with insufficient support from schools. In most countries, contact with teachers was limited, leaving parents with primary responsibility for managing homeschooling. Parents also reported increased levels of stress, worry, social isolation, and domestic conflict. A small number of parents reported increased parental alcohol/drug use. Some differences were found between countries and some negative experiences were more common in families with a child with a mental health condition. However, differences between countries and between families with and without a mental health condition were generally small, indicating that many parents across countries reported negative experiences. Some parents also reported positive experiences of homeschooling. The adverse effects of homeschooling will likely have a long-term impact and contribute to increased inequalities. Given that school closures may be less effective than other interventions, policymakers need to carefully consider the negative consequences of homeschooling during additional waves of the COVID-19 pandemic and future pandemics.

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Extensive research has demonstrated the positive relationship between parental expectations and adolescents’ academic performance. However, little attention has been paid to the negative influence of parental expectations on adolescents’ emotion well-being. The present study investigated the effects of high parental expectations on both academic performance and depression of adolescents. In addition, it also explored whether these relationships could be mediated through adolescents’ value of academic success, self-efficacy, and supports from parents and school. The sample consisted of 872 adolescents from secondary schools in Hong Kong and the results revealed that high parental expectations were positively associated with adolescents’ academic performance and also positively associated with their depression. The mediating roles of adolescents’ value of academic success and school support frequency were also confirmed. This study provides some implications for parenting practice by clarifying the complex roles of parental expectations and the need for social support for adolescents.

The present study investigated the relation between academic performance and ratings of executive functioning in children aged 6–11 from four countries: Sweden, Spain, Iran, and China. Ratings of executive functioning were made by both parents and teachers using the Childhood Executive Functioning Inventory (CHEXI). The results showed that the Chinese sample was generally rated as having more executive deficits compared to the other samples. The finding that executive functioning deficits are exacerbated in China is most likely the result of cultural biases. Boys were generally rated as having poorer executive functioning compared to girls, except in Iran where parents, but not teachers, rated girls as having poorer executive functioning compared to boys. However, this opposite pattern of results found for Iran is not likely to reflect true gender differences in executive functioning. Despite some differences in the levels of executive functioning across countries, both the inhibition and working memory subscales of the CHEXI were related to academic achievement in all four countries, except for CHEXI parent ratings in China. Altogether, the results indicate that the CHEXI may be used as a screening measure for early academic difficulties, although cultural biases clearly have to be taken into consideration.

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Online mindfulness-based intervention as a feasible and acceptable approach has received mounting attention in recent years, yet more evidence is needed to demonstrate its effectiveness. The primary objective of this study was to examine the effects of online mindfulness-based programs on psychological distress (depression and anxiety). The randomized controlled intervention design consisted of four conditions: group mindfulness-based intervention (GMBI), self-direct mindfulness-based intervention (SDMBI), discussion group (DG) and blank control group (BCG). The program lasted 8 weeks and a total of 76 participants completed the pre- and post-test. Results showed that participants in GMBI and SDMBI had significant pre- and post-test differences on mindfulness, emotion regulation difficulties, and psychological distress, with medium to large effect sizes. In addition, ANCOVA results indicated significant effects of group membership on post-test scores of mindfulness, depression and anxiety when controlling the pretest scores, with medium to large effect sizes. The GMBI appeared to exert the greatest effects on outcome variables in comparison with other groups. In addition, changes in emotion regulation difficulties across groups could mediate the relationship between changes in mindfulness dimensions (Observing and Describing) and changes in psychological distress across groups. These results provided encouraging evidence for the effectiveness of online mindfulness-based interventions in reducing psychological distress, and the possible mediating role of emotion regulation, while also underlining the importance of group discussion in online mindfulness-based interventions.

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