Parental Mental Health and Children's Behaviors and Media Usage during COVID-19-Related School Closures

Abstract

Background Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is different from previous disasters in that it continues to the present and has affected all aspects of family life. During epidemics, psychosocial support is not less important than infection control. During COVID-19-related school closures, prolonged partial closures of schools could have detrimental social and health consequences for children and may increase the burden on the family. Based on a community sample in Korea, this study identified parental concerns, children's media usage, other various factors and examined whether parental stress level or depression were positively associated with problem behaviors, media exposure, and sleep problems of the primary school children during school closure under COVID-19. Methods Participants were 217 parents residing in Suwon, South Korea, who had primary school children and responded to a web-based questionnaire on parental concerns from school closure under COVID-19, subjective stress, depression, whether having received mental health services, and family characteristics; children's sleep patterns, problem behaviors, media usage during the online-only class period, and changes in activity level following the pandemic. Results During school closure, children gained body weight, spent less time in physical activities and more in media usage. Besides online learning content (97.2%), YouTube was highly used content (87.6%), and games followed (78.3%). Parental subjective stress index was highly associated with parental depression (Pearson correlation 0.439, P < 0.001), children's sleep problems (0.283, P < 0.001), tablet time (0.171, P = 0.012) and behavior problems (0.413, P < 0.001). Parental depression was associated with children's sleep problems (0.355, P < 0.001), TV time (0.153, P = 0.024), tablet time (0.159, P = 0.019), and behavior problems (0.524, P < 0.001). Parents who previously received mental services seemed to be more concerned about the problems their children already have getting worse because of COVID-19 than the disease itself. Children's sleep problem was associated with tablet (0.172, P = 0.011) and smartphone time (0.298, P < 0.001), but not its frequency. Conclusion During COVID-19-related school closures, many parents and children had various difficulties relating to mental health. Ongoing monitoring of mental health of high-risk groups and multiple support systems may need to be expanded to cover those parents having difficulty in caring for their children.

Quality of life of children with neurodevelopmental disorders and their parents during the COVID-19 pandemic: a 1-year follow-up study

“…In fact, the majority of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) had a higher probability of worsened behavioral symptoms during the pandemic than during the pre-COVID-19 era, and the need for professional support as perceived by parents was more for children with NDDs than for TDC 2 , 5 . Moreover, in a previous study, the prevalence of maternal depression increased especially in children with NDDs during the COVID-19 pandemic 6 , 7 , and maternal depressive state negatively interacted with changes in lifestyles and maladaptive behaviors of children with NDDs during the COVID-19 pandemic 1 , 3 – 5 , 8 . This negative interaction was observed between children with NDDs and their caregivers during ordinary times 9 , 10 and previous natural disasters prior to the COVID-19 pandemic 11 , and was even worse during emergency situations.…”

“…Moreover, previous research showed the prevalence of maternal depression increased, especially in parents’ of children with NDDs, during the COVID-19 pandemic 6 , 7 , and parents of children with ASD had lower levels of resilience and coping skills against overall stress, not just parenting stress 7 . Additionally, maternal depressive state also showed a negative interaction directly with children’s unhealthy lifestyles and maladaptive behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic 1 , 8 . In previous follow-up studies, psychiatric disorders, especially depression, were also related to reduced QOL in the adult population, not just parents with NDDs exposed to natural disasters 15 , 16 .…”

“…The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in numerous changes in school-aged children’s daily lives, including wearing masks, social distancing recommendations, increased stay at home, and the cancelation of large-scale school events. Children experienced changes in their health and were more likely to gain body weight, spend less time doing physical activities, and spend more time online as compared to that in the pre-COVID-19 era 1 . According to the results of a systematic review, more than 30% of typically developing children (TDC) suffered from anxiety, depression, irritability, and inattention, and behavioral and psychological states of 79.4% were negatively affected during the COVID-19 pandemic 2 .…”

The Association of Maternal Emotional Status With Child Over-Use of Electronic Devices During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…We also explored the age differences in the association of maternal emotional status and child over-use of electronic devices, and suggested that the over-use of portable internet devices among young children deserved most attention. Second, up to now, a limited number of studies focused on child media exposure/screen time during the COVID-19 ( 49 , 50 ), but only school-age children (6–12 years) were included in these studies. Because younger children may be more susceptible to the effects of over-use of electronic devices on behavioral or physical development ( 51 , 52 ), and children under 6 years old also used the electronic devices (based on our study, 97.6% for the children of 3–6 years and 85.6% for the children under 3 years old), therefore, studies focusing on electronic-device use among children aged 0–6 years during the COVID-19 pandemic are important.…”

School Closures During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Psychosocial Outcomes in Children - a Systematic Review

“…Notwithstanding the influence of parent-related variables, existing literature reports on a variety of concurrent risk factors during school closure. For instance, children were as well subjected to social disparities, food insecurities,or increased media usage, to name a few(Dunn et al, 2020; Hawrilenko et al, 2021;Kim et al, 2021;Van Lancker & Parolin, 2020). Taking other risk factors into account, negative psychosocial outcomes in schoolchildren are multifaceted and not entirely intertwined with parental characteristics.…”