Children's Daily Living Routine Mediates the Relations Between Parent-Child Relationships and Child Adjustment Problems During School Suspension in Hong Kong

This study examines how children's routine mediated the associations between parent-child relationships and child adjustment problems during the fifth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong, when schools were suspended. The study collected data from 937 parents (87.8% mothers) of children aged 5-12 (M = 7.35 years, SD = 2.09; 50.5% girls). Parents reported on parent-child relationships, children's daily living routine, and child adjustment problems in an online survey. Our findings from structural equation modeling indicate that parent-child closeness was negatively related to child adjustment problems, whereas conflict was positively related to child adjustment problems. Children's routine mediated the associations between parent-child relationships (i.e., closeness and conflict) and child externalizing problems. However, children's routine did not mediate the associations between parent-child relationships (i.e., closeness and conflict) and child internalizing problems. The findings show that parents should be helped to establish routine, especially in difficult times when young children experience turbulence in their daily life, so as to reduce their adjustment problems, in particular of an externalizing nature.PMID:37728827 | DOI:10.1007/s10578-023-01609-7
Source: Child Psychiatry and Human Development - Category: Child Development Authors: Source Type: research