Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has changed family functioning and increased parenting demands, leading to increased risk for poor psychosocial outcomes. Emerging evidence underscores the significant impact the pandemic has had on maternal mental health concerns. In contrast, paternal mental health has yet to be described. The current study describes the prevalence of depression and anxiety in fathers of young children as well as associated risk and protective factors.Methods: As part of the Parenting during the Pandemic study, fathers (N = 70) of children age 0-8 years old self-reported on mental health symptoms and additional concerns, while mothers (N = 236) provided a partner-report of father perinatal depression.Results:. Clinically significant depression (37.1%) and anxiety (22.9%) were prevalent in fathers. Partner reported perinatal depression was prevalent in 61.9% of fathers. Higher financial strain and previous mental health history were associated with increased risk of both depression andanxiety. Maternal report of paternal depression was associated with higher financial strain, greater number of children in the home, and lower maternal-reported marital quality. Limitations: The current study used cross-sectional data from an online cohort. The sample size limits the generalizability of the findings; future research should continue evaluating this important topic with larger samples.Conclusions: Compared to pre-pandemic population comparisons, paternal depression and anxiety are elevated in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Intervention recommendations and implications are discussed.
Parent-child interactions are crucial for child development. The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected mental health and increased parenting challenges impacting parent-child functioning. The aim of the current study was to examine the relationship between parent factors and child activities to identify parental needs. A convenience sample of parents (N = 708), primarily mothers (n = 610; 87.4%) aged 35.59 years old (SD = 5.59; range = 21-72), with children ages 2-8 years completed an online questionnaire between April 14-June 1, 2020. Participants mostly resided in Canada and had an income of >$100,000. Parent-child activities were measured as total weekly time and combined time across activities within two categories: hands-on play and screen time. Bivariate correlations informed block-wise linear regression models. For families with childcare needs, parental anxiety was associated with higher total hands-on play (F(3,142) = 14.01, p < .001), combined hands-on play (F(2,85) = 6.82, p = .011), and combined screen time (F(2,82) = 6.25, p = .014). Families without childcare needs indicated parenting stress was associated with lower total hands-on play (F(3,212) = 7.95, p < .005) and combined hands-on play (F(2,110) = 5.67, p = .019), and higher supervised screen time (F(3,138) = 6.14, p = .014). Family structure and indices of socioeconomic status were also predictive of activities across childcare needs and child ages. To promote high-quality parent-child interactions and positive developmental outcomes in the pandemic, policy makers should support childcare needs, parent mental health and stress, and provide evidence-based guidelines for child screen time.
Background: Maternal stress levels and mental health symptoms have significantly increased since the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic began. As a result, experts have become concerned about elevated substance use given well-known associations between negative emotions and increased substance use. Extant research has not examined substance use among mothers during the COVID-19 pandemic which is a critical next step given links between maternal substance use and adverse childhood outcomes. Methods: Data was collected April 14th to 28th, 2020 from 508 mothers (Mage = 34.8 years, SD = 5.1) with young children between the ages of 0 to 8 years old via the Parenting During the Pandemic study. To identify associations between self-reported changes in substance use, mothers completed self-reported questionnaires on their substance use, motivations for using substances, and their mental health. Results: Of participating mothers, 54.9% did not change their substance use, 39.2% increased their use, and 5.9% decreased their use. Findings indicate that mothers with an anxiety disorder or clinically relevant anxiety symptomatology were more likely to report increased substance use during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using substances to cope with anxiety, but not depression or boredom, was significantly elevated among mothers who self-reported increased substance use during the pandemic relative to those reporting no change to or a decrease in usage. Using substances to cope with anxiety was a risk factor for increasing substance use. Discussion: A large proportion of mothers have reported increasing their substance use since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results highlight the crucial need to treat maternal anxiety and the importance of teaching mothers alternative coping strategies, other than using substances, to reduce the incidence of increased substance use among mothers and its negative sequelae.
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