Psychological adjustment of Spanish adolescents and their parents during COVID-19 lockdown: A mixed method approach

Abstract

Previous literature on the psychological impact of COVID-19 has shown a direct relationship between family conflicts and psychological distress among parents and their children during the domestic lockdown and social isolation; but there are also opportunities to enhance family bonding, encourage collective problem-solving and improve personal relationships. This study aimed to explore psychological adjustment processes of Spanish adolescents and their parents during the first month of lockdown by analyzing their narratives, perceived outcomes, protection and risk factors. A total of 142 people agreed to participate in this study. Of all participants, 61 were adolescents (M = 13.57; SD = 1.74; 57% women) and 81 were parents (M = 46.09; SD = 4.72; 91% mothers). All were Spanish residents and completed an online survey during the domestic lockdown in March 2020. From a qualitative design, methodology followed a mixed approach to analyze data. The results showed three different types of adaptation to lockdown and social isolation in both adolescents and their parents: 1) positive adjustment, 2) moderate adjustment, and 3) maladjustment. Most participants reported a good adjustment and only a 20% of parents and a 16% of adolescents stated that they had not been able to achieve a positive psychological adjustment. There are few significant quantitative differences between adolescents and their parents. The qualitative analysis of data showed that adolescents reported less psychological distress than their parents. The two most important protective factors were social support and keeping busy during lockdown. The most significant risk factors were loss of mobility and social isolation. The conclusions stressed that regarding psychological maladjustment, parents experienced feelings of uncertainty whereas adolescents experienced a kind of mourning process. These findings can be used to design and implement effective intervention measures for mental health and psychological well-being in such a difficult situation as domestic lockdown.

Psychological experience of patients with confirmed COVID-19 at the initial stage of pandemic in Wuhan, China: a qualitative study

“…Although the patients experienced threats to their mental health, in response to COVID-19 pandemic, they also achieved “stress related growth”. Social support and social responsibility are mainly two protective factors of mental health during psychological adaptation process [ 40 ]. Specifically, the social support is external factor.…”

School Students’ Concerns and Support after One Year of COVID-19 in Austria: A Qualitative Study Using Content Analysis

“…Of the studies we reviewed, only Scott et al [ 12 ] found that adolescents in the United States described academic issues as their biggest challenge. Young people from other countries did mention being burdened by schoolwork and distance learning [ 14 , 16 , 17 ], yet other concerns prevailed. In some studies, school-related worries were not mentioned at all [ 13 , 15 ].…”

“…The study was carried out using Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) [ 18 , 19 ], which is hosted at the servers of the University for Continuing Education Krems, Austria. The survey comprised 67 items measuring well-being (WHO-5), depression (PHQ-9), anxiety (GAD-7), sleep quality (ISI), stress (PSS-10), and disordered eating (EAT-8) [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ]. To give respondents the opportunity to report in their own words and without a predefined set of answers regarding what concerned or helped them most in the current situation, the survey contained two open-ended questions: (Question 1) What currently gives you most cause for concern?…”

“…The studies reviewed so far concentrated on reporting the negative and positive experiences of young people. Postigo-Zegarra et al [ 16 ] went a step further by identifying different types of adaptation to the pandemic situation. They performed a discourse analysis of answers to open-ended survey questions about coping mechanisms and negative experiences during the first domestic lockdown in Spain.…”

Perspectives and experiences of Covid-19: Two Irish studies of families in disadvantaged communities

“…Social supports during the pandemic were found positively associated with families’ socio-emotional well-being. In a previous study with parents and adolescents, the two most important protective factors regarding psychological stress were social support and keeping busy during lockdown, while the most significant risk factors were loss of mobility and social isolation [ 43 ]. Strains on parent capacities were also found to include limited social supports, as well as psychological distress and too much unstructured time [ 28 ].…”