Parenting Stress During the COVID‐19 Outbreak: Socioeconomic and Environmental Risk Factors and Implications for Children Emotion Regulation

Abstract

The COVID-19 outbreak imposed to Italian families many changes in their daily life increasing the risk of developing psychological problems. The present study explored risk factors associated with parenting stress and implications for children's emotion regulation in families with different socioeconomic risks. Parents of 2-14 years old children completed a survey reporting difficulties experienced due to the lockdown, level of household chaos, parenting stress, parent involvement in the child's daily life, and children emotion regulation competences. The general mean levels of parenting stress and children emotion regulation abilities were not at clinical level compared with Italian norms. Household chaos predicted higher levels of parenting stress, which, in turn, was associated with less effective emotion regulation in children through the mediating role of parental involvement. More stressed parents were less involved in their children's activities, decreasing children's effective emotion regulation. Only for SES no-risk families, the lockdown constraints increased parenting stress. For SES at-risk families, the impact of parenting stress and involvement on children regulation strategies was stronger, with a protective role played by parental involvement on children's negativity not evident for SES no-risk families. Dealing with the lockdown is a stressful experience for parents who have to balance personal life, work, and children upbringing, without other help. This situation potentially impairs their ability to be supportive caregivers and is consequently detrimental for children well-being. Policies should take into consideration the implications of the lockdown for families' mental health and tailor supportive interventions according to family's risk factors.

Responsive caregiving, opportunities for early learning, and children’s safety and security during COVID-19: A rapid review

“…Numerous studies found that parent and caregiver stress, depression, and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with reduced responsive caregiving, including, for example, lower parent–child closeness and more avoidant or harsher parenting attitudes and behaviours [10,13,16,27,28,32,37,38,41,42,48]. A New Zealand study found that parents of young children (aged 4–5 years old) who experienced more significant depressive symptoms and perceived stress during a COVID-19 lockdown reported harsher parenting and less warm/responsive parenting, as measured by the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire (PSDQ); and parent–child relationships were also of lower quality [32].…”

Psychoeducational Challenges in Spanish Children With Dyslexia and Their Parents’ Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…At the family level, parents are usually the ones who must help their child(ren) to cope with the additional stress and emotional difficulties (e.g., anxiety and symptoms of depression) caused by school closures, remote learning, and children's confinement at home (Brown et al, 2020;Fegert et al, 2020;Halvorsen et al, 2020;Spinelli et al, 2020). Brooks et al (2020) reviewed 24 studies published between 2004 and 2019 in different countries about the psychological impact of quarantine on adults and concluded that most studies reported negative psychological effects, including post-traumatic stress symptoms, confusion, and anger.…”

Secondary transmission of COVID-19 in preschool and school settings after their reopening in northern Italy: a population-based study

“…During the COVID-19 pandemic, all efforts to reduce social contacts have been made, and in most countries, these measures have targeted schools as well. These measures have shown to have several consequences on the psychosocial wellbeing of children and adolescents (1)(2)(3)(4)(5) and, if prolonged, may have a serious impact on the effectiveness of education in this new generation.…”