The declaration of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as a pandemic led to the closures of schools worldwide to contain disease spread. In the present study, we examine the effects of this mandated homeschooling on parents’ mental health and substance use. In a study of 758 couples, 211 of whom were homeschooling, we contrasted homeschooling effects on general mental health (anxiety and depression) and on COVID-specific mental health (socioeconomic and traumatic stress), and on optimism. We also examined effects on coping-related use of alcohol and cannabis. Actor–partner interdependence model results demonstrated negative impacts of mandatory homeschooling; there were significantly lower levels of optimism and greater use of cannabis to cope and marginally higher use of alcohol to cope in couples who were versus were not homeschooling. These levels were higher than prepandemic norms. We then explored the parenting dynamic through actor and partner effects. Among homeschooling families, more time spent homeschooling was associated with increased anxiety, depression, and COVID-19-specific socioeconomic and traumatic stress in the homeschooling parent; for the homeschooler’s partner, there was significantly increased alcohol use to cope and marginally increased traumatic stress. These findings highlight the need for the design and delivery of educational and mental health supports for parents during mandatory homeschooling required for COVID-19 and other pandemics—so that parents can best support their families through these uncertain times.

Homeschooling due to COVID-19 school closures is likely to increase conflict between work and family demands, potentially leading to adverse substance-use effects. We conducted a survey with 758 couples focusing on homeschooling, work–family conflict, and alcohol use (April 2020). The 211 homeschooling couples reported more work–family conflict than the 547 non-homeschooling couples; there also were stronger effects on family interference with work in women. Among the homeschooling couples, homeschooling hours were associated with greater partner drinking. In distinguishable dyad analyses by gender, women’s hours homeschooling were associated with greater drinking frequency by both parents. Men’s hours homeschooling were associated with lower drinking frequency in their partners. Increased work–family conflict in homeschooling couples is particularly worrisome given its link to increased stress and poor mental health. Moreover, women’s increased drinking may impede their ability to support their families during the pandemic. Men’s increased drinking could put homeschooling mothers at risk for escalating conflict/domestic violence, given links of male drinking to intimate partner violence. Finally, the protective-partner effects of men’s homeschooling hours on women’s drinking frequency suggests that more egalitarian division of homeschooling labor may have protective cross-over effects.

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The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in families self-isolating under incredible stress. Viral containment strategies included school closures with parents left to homeschool their children with few supports from the educational system. Recent data show that those with children at home were more likely to drink heavily during the pandemic (Rodriguez et al., in press). Gaps remain, however, in understanding whether these effects are due to the stresses of homeschooling and whether they extend to cannabis use. Seven-hundred-and-sixty Canadian romantic couples (total N=1520 participants; mean age = 57 years; 50% women) who were self-isolating together during the month of April 2020 were recruited through Qualtrics Panel Surveys. Measures were completed retrospectively in early July 2020; participants were asked to report on their feelings and behavior in April 2020 during lockdown. They completed the GAD-7 (Spitzer et al., 2006) and the PHQ-9 (Kronke et al., 2001) to assess anxiety and depression, brief versions of four subscales of the COVID-19 Stress Scales (Taylor et al., 2020) to assess stress around the pandemic, and the Life Orientation Test – Revised (Chiesi et al., 2013) to assess optimism. They completed a measure of role strain (Statistics Canada, 2015) and a measure of conflict with their partner (Murray et al., 2003). They also completed a validated measure of cannabis use frequency and quantity (Cuttler et al., 2017), as well as two validated items from the Brief Cannabis Motives Measures (Bartel et al., 2020) to assess cannabis use to cope with depression and anxiety, respectively. All measures were completed for a 30-day timeframe during the month of April. Participants also reported on whether they were homeschooling one or more children in Grade 1-12 during the month of April. Data was analyzed with a one-way (homeschooling group) Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) controlling for group differences in age; a Bonferroni-correction was applied to account for multiple tests. Compared to those who did not homeschool (n=1116), those who did homeschool (n=404) experienced significantly more depression (p=.001), more COVID-19-related stress around socioeconomic consequences (p<.001) and traumatic stress (p<.001), and less optimism (p=.002). And those who homeschooled experienced more role strain between their home and work responsibilities (p<.001) and more conflict both toward and from their partner (p’s<.001) than those who did not homeschool. Those who homeschooled also used cannabis significantly more frequently in the month of April than those who did not homeschool (p=.003). Compared to cannabis users who did not homeschool (n=122), cannabis users who did homeschool (n=61) reported more frequent cannabis use to cope with both depression and anxiety (p’s = .003). These findings suggest that unintended consequences of our societal viral containment strategies include more depression, pessimism, role strain, inter-parental conflict, and certain COVID-related stresses, and extend to more frequent cannabis use to cope with negative affect, among parents required to homeschool during the pandemic. These unintended mental health and substance misuse consequences for parents need to be considered when planning for an educational strategy in the fall and for any future waves of the pandemic.

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While the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the way parents partition tasks between one another, it is not clear how these division of labour arrangements affect well-being. Pre-pandemic research offers two hypotheses: economic theory argues optimal outcomes result from partners specialising in different tasks, whereas psychological theory argues for a more equitable division of labour. The question of which approach optimizes well-being is more pressing in recent times, with COVID-19 school closures leaving many couples with the burden of homeschooling. It is unknown whether specialisation or equity confer more benefits for mandated homeschoolers, relative to non-homeschoolers or voluntary homeschoolers. Couples (n = 962) with children in grades 1–5 completed measures of workload division and parental well-being. A linear mixed modelling in the total sample revealed that specialisation, but not equity, promoted increased parental emotional and relationship well-being. These relations were moderated by schooling status: voluntary homeschoolers’ well-being benefitted from specialisation, whereas mandated homeschoolers’ well-being did not benefit from either strategy; non-homeschoolers well-being benefitted from both strategies. Across the mixed-gender couples, mothers’ and fathers’ well-being both benefitted from specialisation; equity was only beneficial for mothers’ well-being. Overall, couples might be advised to adopt highly equitable and specialised arrangements to promote both parents’ well-being.