Identifying the role of parent–child conflict and intimacy in Chinese adolescents’ psychological distress during school reopening in COVID-19 pandemic.

Abstract

School reopening during COVID-19 can be a particularly stressful transition for many adolescents. However, little is known about the impact of parent-child relationships on adolescents' mental health during this transition. Using a 2-wave longitudinal design, this research examined the role of parent-child conflict and intimacy in adolescents' psychological distress after school reopening. Immediately before school reopening, 879 Chinese adolescents (mean age = 13.14 years, 51% girls) reported on their parent-child conflict and intimacy. They also reported on their depressive symptoms and anger problems before and 3 months after school reopening. Youth who reported higher levels of parent-child conflict and lower levels of parent-child intimacy before school reopening were more likely to show increased depressive symptoms and anger problems over time. Moreover, the moderating role of parent-child conflict and intimacy in the link between youth's perceived stress toward school reopening and psychological distress was investigated. Specifically, parent-child conflict moderated the impact of youth's perceived stress on their psychological distress, such that greater perceived stress was only linked with more psychological distress over time in families with higher levels of parent-child conflict, but not in families with lower levels of parent-child conflict. Taken together, the findings highlight the important role of parent-child relationships in shaping adolescent's mental health as they return to school, which provides key insights into reducing adolescents' psychological distress during the transition of school reopening in COVID-19 pandemic.

Stress-related psychopathology during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Parental support, in particular, has emerged as an important protective factor for both youths and young adults. The association of pandemic-related stressors with internalizing and externalizing problems was lower in young adults who experienced higher levels of parental support and had lower levels of parent-child conflict prior to the pandemic ( Skinner et al, 2021 ) and in children and adolescents who spent more time with their parents ( Oliva et al, 2021 ), who experienced lower conflict with parents ( Qu et al, 2021 ), and whose parents used more emotion coaching strategies ( Cohodes et al, 2021 ). Together these studies suggest that social support and connection are important protective factors that have the potential to facilitate resilience during the pandemic.…”

Introduction to the special issue: Parenting and family dynamics in times of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“…The collection of studies in this special issue suggests that both the unique context and phase of the pandemic in a specific country and individual risk and resilience factors might explain why some families are more severely impacted by the pandemic than others. Some of the changes in family functioning were specifically related to preventive measures and restrictions on public life in that current time and region (Schmidt et al, 2021; Qu et al, 2021). In addition, levels of stress and coping with the pandemic within families varied from day to day, with more negative interactions between parents and children, as well as lower positive and higher negative affect in both caregiver and child, on days with more caregiver involvement in distance learning (Schmidt et al, 2021).…”

“…Prepandemic child and family risk factors, such as low socioeconomic status (Sun et al, 2021), stress (Peltz et al, 2021), and mental health problems (Browne et al, 2021; Ren et al, 2021), directly or indirectly exacerbated the effects of the pandemic. Families already experiencing more negative interactions before the pandemic tended to have more difficulties adjusting during the pandemic, possibly further accentuating difficulties between family members (Qu et al, 2021; Sun et al, 2021). At the same time, positive family functioning seemed to buffer against the effects of the pandemic (McRae et al, 2021; Skinner et al, 2021).…”

Factors Associated with Subjective Well-Being of Chinese Adolescents Aged 10–15: Based on China Family Panel Studies

“…In addition, dealing with conflicts with negative methods such as bickering can affect the harmonious family atmosphere and, thus, the SWB of adolescents. Reducing or avoiding quarrelling with parents is beneficial to positive parent–adolescent relationships [ 68 ]. Positive parent–adolescent relationships, such as, in particular, important family support, promote the ability of adolescents to respond to challenges and pressures [ 69 , 70 ].…”