A cross-sectional investigation of psychosocial stress factors in German families with children aged 0–3 years during the COVID-19 pandemic: initial results of the CoronabaBY study

Abstract

Background Psychosocial stress during the COVID-19 pandemic is increasing particularly in parents. Although being specifically vulnerable to negative environmental exposures, research on psychosocial stress factors in infants’ and toddlers’ families during the pandemic is so far sparse. The CoronabaBY study investigates the perceived pandemic burden, parenting stress and parent and child mental health problems in families with children aged 0–3 years in Bavaria, Southern Germany. Further, the relationships between these psychosocial stressors are examined and sociodemographic characteristics that may be predictive of these factors will be explored. Methods Participants were cross-sectionally surveyed via smartphone app. Standardized questionnaires on perceived pandemic burden, parenting stress, parental symptoms of depression and anxiety, infants’ crying, sleeping and feeding problems or toddlers’ emotional and behavioral problems were applied. Results N = 991 parents (Mage = 33.7 years, SD = 4.5; 93.7% mothers, 91.5% born in Germany) with infants (n = 554; Mage = 5.9 months, SD = 3.0) or toddlers (n = 435; Mage = 25.9 months, SD = 6.5) participated in the first half-year of 2021. Sixty-five percent of the parents perceived a high pandemic burden, 37.7% experienced parenting stress and 24.1% showed affective symptoms (anxiety: 30.1%, depression: 18.5%). Feeding problems, crying/ sleeping problems and multiple regulatory problems were found in 34.8%, 26.2% and 13.5% of the infants, respectively. Amongst toddlers, 8.5% showed noticeable behavior and emotional problems. Children`s mental health problems correlated moderately with parenting stress and parental affective symptoms and weakly with perceived pandemic burden. A lower financial status, higher parental education and increasing child age were significant but weak predictors for higher parenting stress, affective symptoms and higher psychological problems in children. Conclusions A majority of the surveyed families with infants and toddlers experience the pandemic as stressful. The main challenges are parental affective symptoms and limited resources for childcare due to parenting stress. Overall, infants and toddlers show similar levels of mental health problems when being compared to pre-pandemic studies, but staggered detrimental effects on children`s mental health might occur if the stressful conditions persist. This is already indicated by correlations between parental and child psychosocial stress factors.

COVID-19 Pandemic and Infant Neurodevelopmental Impairment

“…Higher levels of COVID-19–related stress were reported for both mothers and fathers of infants aged 0 to 6 months and were associated with insensitive parenting practices, including decreased emotional responsiveness in only mothers, which could lessen the reciprocal exchanges that support language development in early childhood. 32 , 33 Additionally, opportunities to promote language and social development through new experiences outside the home, including visits with extended family and friends or attendance at a child care center, were lessened for many during the pandemic.…”

Easing pandemic-related restrictions, easing psychosocial stress factors in families with infants and toddlers? Cross-sectional results of the three wave CoronabaBY study from Germany.

“…Compared to their parents, considerably less children experienced a high pandemic burden with up to 36.3% of the sample (parent report). In addition, the proportion of children with a high pandemic burden remained stable during the course of the study, possibly indicating that child pandemic burden is less related to pandemic events than the one of their parents' (compare [24]).…”

“…A different picture emerged for parenting stress across the three survey waves: From the beginning of the study, with 38.2% of the families being affected, parenting stress was highly pronounced compared to pre-pandemic data (see [24]). Contrary to our initial assumption, the number of families with elevated parenting stress significantly increased in wave II despite lower COVID-19 incidences and fewer restrictions.…”

“…Yet, data about the pandemic's specific effects on young children under 3 years of life and their families is still sparse with very few exceptions: The CoronabaBY study investigates psychosocial stress factors as expressed in perceived pandemic burden, parenting stress and parental and child mental health problems in families with infants and toddlers in Germany [24]. First cross-sectional results from a high incidence phase in 2021 showed that parents struggled especially with affective symptoms and limited resources for childcare due to high levels of parenting stress.…”

Parent's influence and perception on the global development of their children during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…In that research, they also found that lower levels of parental worrying were related to a better child quality of life. Higher levels of parental education were associated with higher levels of stress and anxiety during the pandemic (Buechel, et al, 2022) and with a greater decrease in the amount of time playing outdoors . It might be that parents who were experts were more worried and stressed about their child's development and about their child's quality of life.…”