COVID-related stressors and their impact on parental sleep, parenting behaviors, and child functioning.

Journal of Family Psychology, Vol 37(3), Apr 2023, 305-317; doi:10.1037/fam0001061This longitudinal study examined the impact on families of multiple stressors that emerged due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, we modeled the indirect effects of three stressors (i.e., the stress of new childcare and work demands, financial stress, and health-related stress assessed within the first month of the pandemic in the United States) on children’s functioning over the next 8 weeks via the mediating pathways of parental sleep quality and two forms of parenting (i.e., angry/hostile, constructive). The longitudinal sample of 701 parents (81.5% female; Mage = 41.7, SD = 8.2) reported an average of 1.8 children (SD = 1.0) living in the home (Mage = 9.8 years old, SD = 5.8 years). Multilevel results suggested that, at the within-families level (Level 1), drops in parental sleep on a specific week predicted corresponding increases in angry/hostile parenting, which predicted increases in children’s distress during that same week. At the between-families level (Level 2), baseline levels of stress from new demands were predictive of stably higher levels of angry/hostile parenting, which predicted stably higher levels of children’s distress across the 8 weeks of the study. Furthermore, baseline health-related stress and financial stress predicted lower stable levels of parental sleep quality, which predicted higher stable levels of children’s distress. Finally, health-related stress...
Source: Journal of Family Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research