Background: This study evaluated two risk pathways that may account for increases in child internalizing and externalizing problems during the COVID-19 pandemic: one pathway operating through pre-existing family vulnerability and a second pathway operating through disruption in family functioning occurring in response to the pandemic. We assessed family disruption and family functioning with measures of key family-level and parenting dimensions, including family cohesion, conflict and routines, and parents' harsh discipline, lax discipline and warmth. In all models, pre-pandemic parent emotional distress, financial strain and child maladjustment were included as covariates. Methods: The sample included 204 families, comprised of parents who had children (M Age = 4.17; 45.1% girls). Parents (M Age = 27.43) completed the first survey prior to COVID-19 onset in the United States, a second survey after COVID-19 onset in May 2020 and a third survey two weeks later. Results: Analyses were conducted in a model-building fashion, first computing structural equation models for each family and parenting dimension separately, then advancing significant dimensions into one integrated model for the family-level factors and a second model for parenting quality factors. Results provided more support for the family disruption hypothesis across all tests. In the family-level domain, decreases in family cohesion and increases in family conflict each uniquely predicted subsequent child maladjustment. In the parenting domain, increases in harsh discipline and lax discipline each uniquely predicted subsequent child maladjustment. Family routines and parental warmth were not associated with child adjustment. However, parents' emotional distress prior to the pandemic exhibited a robust association with children's internalizing problems. Conclusions: These findings indicate that efforts to support families in adapting to unique conditions of the pandemic will yield the greatest effect for child adjustment. Specifically, interventions should include efforts to help families maintain cohesion and manage conflict, and help parents minimize increases in harsh and lax discipline.
Happiness is an important indicator of well-being, and little is known about how it changes in the early adult years. We examined trajectories of happiness from early adulthood to midlife in 2 Canadian longitudinal samples: high school seniors followed from ages 18-43 and university seniors followed from ages 23-37. Happiness increased into the 30s in both samples, with a slight downturn by age 43 in the high school sample. The rise in happiness after high school and university remained after controlling for important baseline covariates (gender, parents' education, grades, self-esteem), time-varying covariates known to be associated with happiness (marital status, unemployment, self-rated physical health), and number of waves of participation. The upward trend in happiness runs counter to some previous cross-sectional research claiming a high point in happiness in the late teens, decreasing into midlife. As cross-sectional designs do not assess within-person change, longitudinal studies are necessary for drawing accurate conclusions about patterns of change in happiness across the life span.
Trajectories of perceived support from family, friends, and lovers were examined in 923 high school seniors surveyed across the transition to adulthood (ages 18, 19, 20, 22, and 25). Growth models revealed a cubic pattern of support from family members, which peaked at age 20, no change in friend support, and a linear decrease in lover support. Women reported higher levels of support than did men for all sources except fathers. Over time, friend and lover support decreased for women but increased for men. Both mother and father support were higher among young people who had left home, and cohabitation/marriage was associated with lower friend support and higher lover support. Support in close social relationships in the early 20s is dynamic; personal characteristics (e.g., gender) and life course transitions such as leaving home and marriage contribute to changing levels of perceived support.
Data from 963 Canadians at ages 18 (late adolescence), 25 (young adulthood), and 43 (midlife) were used to explore convoys of perceived social support from parents, other family, friends, partners, coworkers, and children. Latent profile and latent transition analyses revealed two support profiles at each age, distinguished by amount of family support. Those with high family support had a high likelihood (approximately 80%) of remaining in that profile from one life stage to the next, while those with low family support had an equal likelihood (approximately 50%) of remaining there or transitioning into high support. Those with high family support at all three ages had fewer symptoms of depression in midlife than those with low family support at all ages. These findings highlight the prominence of family of origin in social convoys of perceived support and implications of perceived support for midlife mental health.
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