Child emotional and behavioral difficulties and parent stress during COVID-19 lockdown in Sri Lankan families

Abstract

Introduction Understanding parents’ and children’s mental health issues would help design population-specific intervention programs. The present study explored parents’ perceived stress and child emotions and behavior during the COVID-19 lockdown among Sri Lankan families. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted among Sri Lankan parents of children aged 11 to 17 years. Validated instruments (Perceived Stress Scale-PSS and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire-SDQ) evaluated parental stress, child emotions, and hyperactivity/inattention. Multiple linear regression assessed the predictors of mental health issues, including the interaction between age and gender. Results Three hundred fifty-five parents responded to the survey (mothers:76%). One-third of parents experienced difficulties with their children during the pandemic. Emotions and hyperactivity-inattention problems measured via the SDQ scale were high among 38% of children, while the perceived stress was high in 79.2% of parents. Overall, child emotions and hyperactivity-inattention increased with decreasing age, increasing parent stress, having middle-income compared to high-income, and having a family member/close relative tested positive for COVID-19. Hyperactivity-inattention (29.3%) was more than the emotional problems (22%) among children. The emotional problems were reported more with increasing parent stress, while child hyperactivity-inattention alone was reported more with decreasing age, middle-income compared to high-income families, and increasing parent stress. Also, the interaction effect of age and gender indicated that higher age was related to greater parent-reported hyperactivity-inattention problems in males. Conclusions The findings highlight how the COVID-19 crisis and social isolation have contributed to increased parental stress and child emotional and hyperactivity-inattention problems. In addition to cautioning the healthcare workers, socio-culturally appropriate preventive and supportive mental health programs may help deal with further waves of COVID-19 or any other adverse circumstances.

The Impact Of COVID-19 Lockdown on Parents Handling Children with Disability in Chennai, India

“…9,10,12 A small proportion (8.9%) of parents were single (divorced/widowed). Similar results were observed in a previous study by Ashan Athapattu et al 13 and Marchetti et al 14 , were 5.1% and 12.3% of parents were single, respectively.…”

COVID-19’s shadow on families: A structural equation model of parental stress, family relationships, and child wellbeing

“…Research quickly responded to the public health crisis by describing the impact of the pandemic on family functioning and child wellbeing across the world [2,[8][9][10][11][12][13]. What has yet to be understood is how COVID-19 disruptions get inside the family [5,14].…”

The Effect of Family-centered 'I Recognize My Emotions Asynchronous Activity Series' on Children's Emotion Regulation Skills

“…Various studies have demonstrated that, in addition to disruptions in education during the COVID-19 quarantine, there are also changes in the mood, emotions and behavior of children and adolescents (Athapathu, et al, 2022;Braksiek et al, 2022;Christner, 2021;Di Giorgio, 2021;McKune et al, 2021;Pudpong et al, 2023;Rabe et al, 2021;Rathgeb et al, 2022;Spinelli et al, 2021;Wu et al, 2023). Cohen Arazi et al, (2022) conducted a study in which they received opinions from families about children's emotional changes during the pandemic period.…”

“…It has been stated that children express their fears in the form of tantrums, crying for no reason, irritability, and shouting. It is mentioned that the interaction of parents with their children is effective in solving psychological and behavioral problems that may occur (Alisinaoğlu, et al, 2020;Athapathu, et al, 2022;Spinelli, 2021). Children's stress responses are affected by parents' emotional regulation and level of exposure to stress.…”