Parenting and child and adolescent mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background: Early work indicates the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of children and adolescents. Understanding which children may be more at risk for mental health problems, and which risk factors are amenable to change is crucial. The importance of studying children’s mental health within the context of the family system is recognized. Methods: The current study investigated associations between parent factors, and children’s mental health during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic across a number of Western countries (primarily Australia and the United Kingdom). Parents (N = 385) reported on their pandemic-related stress, mental health, and parenting behaviors, in addition to mental health changes in their 5-17 year old children (N = 481) during April/May 2020. Results: Analyses revealed significant associations between parent COVID-19 pandemic stress, parent depression, anxiety and stress symptoms, and increases in child internalizing and externalizing problems. Harsh parenting behavior was associated with trauma symptoms and increases in externalizing problems. Further, some associations were more pronounced for children with existing mental health problems, and for disadvantaged and single parent families. Limitations: The data was cross-sectional, the majority of participant parents were female, and all data were parent-report. Conclusions: Findings suggest the importance of parents in influencing children’s mental health during the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Further work is needed to investigate longer-term impacts.