Parental psychological distress associated with COVID-19 outbreak: A large-scale multicenter survey from Turkey

Abstract

Aims Pandemics can cause substantial psychological distress; however, we do not know the impact of the COVID-19 related lockdown and mental health burden on the parents of school age children. We aimed to comparatively examine the COVID-19 related the stress and psychological burden of the parents with different occupational, locational, and mental health status related backgrounds. Methods A large-scale multicenter online survey was completed by the parents ( n = 3,278) of children aged 6 to 18 years, parents with different occupational (health care workers—HCW [18.2%] vs. others), geographical (İstanbul [38.2%] vs. others), and psychiatric (child with a mental disorder [37.8%]) backgrounds. Results Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that being a HCW parent (odds ratio 1.79, p < .001), a mother (odds ratio 1.67, p < .001), and a younger parent (odds ratio 0.98, p = .012); living with an adult with a chronic physical illness (odds ratio 1.38, p < .001), having an acquaintance diagnosed with COVID-19 (odds ratio 1.22, p = .043), positive psychiatric history (odds ratio 1.29, p < .001), and living with a child with moderate or high emotional distress (odds ratio 1.29, p < .001; vs. odds ratio 2.61, p < .001) were independently associated with significant parental distress. Conclusions Parents report significant psychological distress associated with COVID-19 pandemic and further research is needed to investigate its wider impact including on the whole family unit.

The COVID‐19 lockdown and psychological distress among Italian parents: Influence of parental role, parent personality, and child difficulties

“…This could be explained by two simultaneous factors: (a) the association between female gender and increased psychological distress and internalising symptoms; and (b) the sociocultural relation of the maternal role to childcare. Furthermore, this result is consistent with the findings of previous studies, showing a significant association between motherhood and parent distress (Bıkmazer et al, 2020), as well as research showing higher levels of anxiety, depression, and stress in mothers, compared to fathers and mothers' greater susceptibility to developing PTSD symptoms (Yue et al, 2020).…”

“…Specific COVID-19 and sociodemographic variables may be significant in predicting psychological distress in parents. According to Bıkmazer et al (2020), being a mother and a younger parent, having an acquaintance diagnosed with COVID-19, having a positive psychiatric history, and living with a child with moderate or high emotional distress are all associated with significant parent distress. Along these same lines, Yue et al (2020) found that mothers showed higher levels of anxiety, depression, and stress compared to fathers, and that they were more prone to developing PTSD symptoms.…”

“…With respect to parents, research has highlighted that one quarter of isolated parents—and an even greater percentage of parents living with children—show a high level of psychological distress during quarantine (see, e.g., Sprang & Silman, 2013). Despite this evidence, few studies (Bıkmazer et al, 2020; Mazza, Ricci, Marchetti, et al, 2020; Morelli et al, 2020; Spinelli et al, 2020; Yue et al, 2020) have investigated the mental health of parents during the COVID‐19 lockdown, specifically. Yue et al (2020) demonstrated that home quarantine during the COVID‐19 emergency was associated with a variety of psychological symptoms in families.…”

Covid-19 pandemisinde toplum ruh sağlığı merkezlerinin hizmet şekli değişikliği ile şizofreni hastalarındaki anksiyete düzeyleri arasındaki ilişki

“…Orta düzeyde anksiyete insanları sağlıkla ilgili tehditlerle başa çıkmaya motive edebilirken, bazı kişiler aşırı derecede endişelenerek işlevsel bozukluk yaşayabilir ve bu nedenle tedaviye ihtiyaç duyabilirler 2 . Pandemi sonrası yapılan birçok araştırmada toplumun ruh sağlığının önemli oranda etkilendiği gösterilmiştir [3][4][5] . Özellikle Depresif Bozukluk, Anksiyete Bozukluğu ve Obsesif Kompulsif Bozukluk yaygınlığının arttığı bildirilmiştir [5][6][7] .…”

Homeschooling Implementation: Indonesian Parents' Experience During The COVID-19 Pandemic

“…It includes weak internet access (Kalloo et al 2020), teachers do not have adequate facilities to support online learning (Flores & Gago, 2020), and workloads that get heavier (Mercer & Gregersen, 2020). Likewise, parents feel, the difficulty of implementing homeschooling raises the burden of care (Wu & Xu, 2020); difficulty regulating emotions affects the quality of parenting (Shorer & Leibovich, 2020); decreases mental health (Bıkmazer et al 2020); low self-efficacy (Navarrete-Mejía et al 2020); a loss of childcare (Patrick et al 2020); changes in daily habits (Fiese et al 2020); higher childcare costs during lockdown (Craig & Churchill, 2020); and difficulty teaching children's schoolwork (Weaver & Swank, 2020). There are several reasons parents have not been able to adapt to replace the role of teachers when children learn online at home, namely: 1) Busy parents working to make a living; 2) Parents are less able to master the technology; 3) The low level of parental education (Andrew et al 2020).…”