Clinically significant depression among parents during the COVID-19 pandemic: Examining the protective role of family relationships.

Abstract

Responding to families at heightened risk for mental health burdens during the COVID-19 pandemic is critical-evidence suggests parents face elevated burdens compared to their nonparent counterparts. Building on studies that demonstrate a spillover of stress across domains and individuals within families, this study examines longitudinal predictors of elevated risks for clinical depression among parents based on relational family indicators, COVID-specific stressors, and stress and emotion regulation indicators. Baseline data were collected from parents (n = 176; average age 37.04, 50% female) on April 27-28, 2020, 5 weeks after the first U.S. quarantines began. Follow-up data were collected 30 days later. Results indicated concerning levels of parents' mental health symptoms over this short time span, including elevated stressors and exacerbated mental health symptoms for approximately one-quarter of parents. Given the need for agile service responses for those at the greatest risk, this article examines predictions of clinically significant depression through binary logistic regression. These individuals were more likely to report greater anxiety and stress symptoms, as well as report less closeness in their parent-child relationships; couple satisfaction was not a significant predictor of depression. Implications include recommended agile responses to alleviate distress and expand access to mental health supports, particularly in light of pervasive shelter-in place orders that limit access to previously established coping supports and sources of social connection (e.g., schools or community centers), that are anticipated to recur in the months ahead.

A descriptive literature review of early research on COVID-19 and close relationships

“…For example, conflict about co-parenting was positively related to parent’s reports of depression and worry and was negatively linked to parent’s relationship quality during adjustment to the pandemic ( Feinberg et al, 2021 ). Parents not classified as clinically depressed during the first 7 weeks of the pandemic had closer relationships with their children in that period than did clinically depressed parents ( Russell et al, 2021 ). Parental burnout increased from 2018 to during the lockdown, with mothers reporting higher levels of burnout than fathers in a Portuguese study ( Aguiar et al, 2021 ).…”

Predictors of children's emotion regulation outcomes during COVID‐19: Role of conflict within the family

“…Research has found that children's stress‐related symptoms may be buffered by positive and responsive parenting (Masten, 2001 ). Positive and responsive parenting includes active and supportive coping strategies (i.e., coaching children on how to handle stressful situations by encouraging verbalization of feelings, modeling appropriate emotions when tackling problems); positive family environment (i.e., communication, affection, mutual respect, spending quality time together); and high‐quality parent–child relationships, which are correlated with high levels of coping in children (Kliewer et al, 1996 ; Russell et al, 2021 ). In contrast, child outcomes after a crisis, including heightened levels of stress, are worsened for the children of highly distressed parents (Prime et al, 2020 ).…”

The Protective Role of Parent Resilience on Mental Health and the Parent–Child Relationship During COVID-19

“…Further, parents' mental health symptoms may interfere with parents' perceptions of their children's stress, as seen in depressed and anxious mothers' overreporting of their children's psychiatric symptoms [42], and in withdrawn or unavailable patterns of parent-child interaction [43][44][45]. Adding an additional risk consideration is the presence of pre-existing mental health symptoms that may hamper parents' abilities to leverage the necessary resources to be resilient to the challenges presented by COVID-19, including coping with the strains of caregiver burden [46].…”