Maternal Psychological Distress and Children’s Internalizing/Externalizing Problems during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Moderating Role Played by Hypermentalization

Abstract

In order to explore the psychological impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the caregiver–child relationship, we investigated the interplay among COVID-19 exposure and children’s internalizing/externalizing problems during the Italian lockdown, hypothesizing a mediation effect played by maternal distress. Additionally, we included maternal reflective functioning (i.e., hypermentalization) as a moderator factor among this interplay. A total of 305 Italian mothers of children aged 6–13 years (M = 10.3; SD = 2.4) filled in an online survey. Findings revealed an indirect effect of maternal COVID-19 exposure on children’s anxious/depressed (k2 = 0.46) and attention problems (k2 = 0.32) via maternal distress. Hypermentalization moderated the impact of maternal COVID-19 exposure on children’s anxious/depressed problems (β = −1.08, p = 0.04). Hypermentalization moderated both the relation between maternal distress and children’s aggressive behaviors (β = 12.226; p < 0.001) and between maternal distress and children’s attention problems (β = 5.617, p < 0.001). We found pivotal significant effects of maternal hypermentalization on children’s anxious/depressed and attention problems, indicating that the higher the mother’s hypermentalization was, the higher the children’s problems were. Our results broaden what we knew on the role of maternal reflective and emotional functioning on children’s emotional/behavioral adjustment during stressful situations.

Adolescents' Resilience During COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Mediating Role in the Association Between SEL Skills and Mental Health

“…It is likely that adolescent girls were more sensitive to their own and others' negative emotions (e.g., fear, anger, frustration) generated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This may have resulted in higher levels of conduct problems, hyperactivity, and inattention as they struggled to cope with the stress experienced in their life contexts (Bianco et al, 2021).…”

Children’s representations of the COVID-19 lockdown and pandemic through drawings

“…Of course, this would have allowed us to gain more control over the possible variables in the setting, to collect more information and with a higher level of details that would have then allowed more specific reflection. However, involving parents actively in collecting children’s drawings and comments may have given children the opportunity to share emotions with their parents, and to build new meanings together with their reference figures, thus allowing a shared reflection of what they lived during the lockdown and of their hopes and desires for the future ( Petrocchi et al, 2020 ; Prime et al, 2020 ; Bianco et al, 2021 ; Masten, 2021 ). Moreover, this work offered an occasion to discuss also the children’s representations of their parents that are generally absent in drawings.…”

“…Parents were asked to complete a questionnaire based on the socio-demographic form used for the previous works by Petrocchi et al (2020) and Bianco et al (2021) , with some differences due to the specificity of the aims of each work. It was composed of 14 questions about: socio-demographical data (age and gender of parent and child, parent’s education level, family residence, presence/absence of development disorders and fluency in the Italian language of the child, changes in socio-economic status due to pandemic), the exposure to COVID-19 (if they relatives and/or their friends were positive for the virus infection or manifested correlated symptoms and whether someone died because of COVID-19), the presence of garden or terraces in their home and the people with whom the child had spent the quarantine.…”

“…Children’s behavioral development ( Dray et al, 2017 ; Clark et al, 2020 ; Wang et al, 2020 ) was challenged by home confinement: indeed, sudden changes in living habits precluded children from the possibility to relate outside the family, such as practicing physical activities and especially experiencing independence and autonomy in educational contexts different from the family one, such as schools, sports teams, recreational centers, and so on ( Brazendale et al, 2017 ). All these elements became risk factors for the emergence of hyperactivity, conduct problems, sleeping and eating disorders, and psychological distress in children ( Petrocchi et al, 2020 ; Wang et al, 2020 ; Bianco et al, 2021 ; Liu et al, 2021 ). In addition, health emergency widened risk factors already existing in families and fragile social contexts before the advent of COVID-19 ( Carneiro et al, 2016 ; Liu et al, 2021 ).…”

Parental Reflective Functioning and Its Association With Parenting Behaviors in Infancy and Early Childhood: A Systematic Review

“…Both forms of RF in parents have been linked not only with parent–child attachment security but also with further aspects of child social–emotional development such as mentalizing abilities, emotion regulation, adolescent adjustment, and mental health ( Benbassat and Priel, 2012 ; Esbjørn et al, 2013 ; Borelli et al, 2016 ; Ensink et al, 2016a ; Nijssens et al, 2020 ; Bianco et al, 2021 ).…”