We used latent profile analysis on a longitudinal dataset to examine changes in maternal and child mental health during COVID-19 and factors that may protect against declines in mental health. Participants were 183 low-income mothers ( M = 36 years) with young children ( M = 5.31 years) in the City of Toronto with data collected prior to and during the pandemic in 2020. Mothers reported on their own stress, anxiety and depression and their children's emotional, conduct, hyperactivity, peer and prosocial problems at both timepoints. We found heterogeneity in mental health changes, with 5 distinct patterns of change for mothers and 4 distinct patterns of change for children during COVID-19. The majority (83%) of mothers experienced significant declines in at least one aspect of mental health. In contrast, the majority of children (65%) experienced either no change or improvements in mental health. Interestingly, patterns of change across these groups were not differentiated by demographic characteristics such as income, education and family composition. However, for mothers, a higher degree of satisfaction with social support was associated with membership in a profile with better mental health both prior to and during the pandemic. For children, having a stable history of early childhood education and care was associated with membership in a profile that showed improvements in mental health during the pandemic. We discuss how our results support the need for proactive and global interventions for at-risk families with raised mental health concerns, and the benefits that stable early childhood education and care may provide for young children.

Research Findings. The Scottish government is in the process of transforming their early childhood learning and care landscape by doubling the number of free hours of childcare for families and by requiring that all children in care spend a significant portion of each day outdoors. Thus, the government is promoting outdoor play programs. We surveyed 45 educators working in 16 outdoor programs and 16 nursery programs in Scotland as this transition was taking place. The survey focused on the benefits, barriers, risks, and challenges regarding implementation of this new social policy and educators' views on an ideal outdoor play program. Research Findings and Policy revealed that educators working in outdoor play programs were more confident in supporting outdoor play, reported more benefits, risks, and challenges for both children and educators, and highlighted more barriers to implementing the new policy. Educators in both programs held similar views about early learning and care programs reflecting Ministry play-based curriculum guidelines for children's learning, development, and the role of educators. Only outdoor play program educators raised issues regarding risk benefit analysis of outdoor play. Our findings highlight the importance of considering the views of educators regarding government policy decisions and its potential success of implementation. In 2016, the Scottish government introduced a new policy to double the number of hours of free Early Learning and Care (ELC) services offered to parents from 620 to 1140 hours annually by 2020 (A Blueprint for 2020, 2017). Given national concerns about children's physical and mental health (e.g., obesity, screen time, educational and employment attainment gap), this new policy included an increased emphasis on early learning and outdoor play (see Perlman et al., in press for an analysis of this new policy). Specifically, the new policy on free ELC included an emphasis on expanding the number of outdoor play programs (OPPs) in both urban and rural settings. ELC services are designed to provide support for working parents while enhancing the early learning and development of young children as outlined in the mandated national educational guide for children ages 3-18 (Curriculum for Excellence, 2008). A related government document, the Curriculum for Excellence Through Outdoor Play (Learning and Teaching Scotland, Scottish Government, 2010) articulates the national vision for outdoor learning in natural rural and urban environments and school grounds. The Scottish emphasis on outdoor play was initiated as a grass roots movement by early adopters of OPPs located in natural environments (e.g., woodlands, fields, beaches, parks). More recently, the Scottish government adopted a new policy of expanding ELC services that includes licensing more OPPs. The top-down Scottish government approach indicates that it was influenced by the bottom-up grass root movement (Passy et al., 2019). Evidence demonstrates that attending OPPs is beneficial for

Many children in Canada and the United States experience poor-quality child care on a regular basis. Under the rubric of “parent choice,” governments continue to permit a variety of licensed care providers (centers and homes) as well as unlicensed home child care providers. Research suggests, however, that parents are not well-informed consumers about child care services, unaware of even the basic characteristics of their child’s care. In this study, we provide findings from a latent profile analysis based on a conjoint survey conducted in Toronto, Canada to better understand the factors that influence parents’ decisions in selecting child care services. Based on responses from over 700 parents, we identify five classes of parents that reflect a range of preferences in selecting child care. However, most groups show a strong preference for licensed early childhood education and care (ECEC) options. Limitations of this study and implications for policy are discussed.

The COVID-19 disruptions to children’s education have been a major issue for families. This study examined how demographic, family, and mental health characteristics of 375 low-income children and their mothers from the City of Toronto were associated with children’s educational experiences at home during COVID-19. Many mothers (82.3%) reported that they and their children (80.0%) experienced challenges related to children’s education at home during the pandemic. However, a small percentage of mothers (1.1%) reported that this mode of learning was better for them and their children (4.3%). The most frequently reported challenges faced by mothers was taking on the role of a teacher (43.7%) and balancing their children’s remote learning with other responsibilities (19.4%). The most frequently mentioned challenges faced by children was that children lacked both motivation (21.1%) and socialization (21.1%) and had difficulty focusing (26.9%). White mothers from households with higher income and with a higher number of adults in the home reported that their children experienced higher levels of challenges related to their education at home. Maternal and child challenges with children’s education at home were also related to higher levels of maternal and child mental health challenges. Our findings suggest that the online educational experiences set up following the onset of the pandemic were difficult for many children and mothers to implement in the home. Given the significant associations of these challenges with child and maternal mental health, we encourage educators to provide flexibility, empathy, and support with learning from home to both children and mothers.

For more than four decades, behavioral intervention programs informed by psychology have been employed to increase pro-environmental behaviors. However, there has been little evidence for the post-intervention durability of target behaviors. The few studies that have conducted such evaluations have found that improvements often return to baseline levels post-intervention. This study evaluated the durability of home energy conservation behaviors before, during, and after a community based multi-technique intervention program, and examined the relationship between behavioral durability and the perceived importance, convenience and family norms of each behavior, as well as generalized pro-conservation decision making. The results show increased frequency in target behaviors that remain elevated seven months post-intervention. While the reported generalization of pro-conservation decision-making consistently increased during the study, perceived importance, convenience, and family norms of target conservation behaviors were largely unaffected. In addition, the few significant alterations in these perceptions were found to be due to increases during the post-intervention period only, indicating that they are not necessary pre-requisites for durable behavior change. These results show that a well designed community based intervention can have direct impacts on target behaviors that persist beyond its termination.