Abstract
Although extant cross-sectional data suggest that parents have experienced numerous challenges (e.g., homeschooling, caregiver burden) and mental health consequences during the COVID-19 pandemic, longitudinal data are needed to confirm mental health changes relative to pre-pandemic levels and identify which specific pandemic-related changes most highly predict mental health during the pandemic. In two longitudinal subsamples (N = 299 and N = 175), we assessed change in anxiety, depression, and stress before and during the pandemic and whether the accumulation of pandemic-related changes predicted observed mental health changes. On average, parents reported increased depression and anxiety, but no significant changes in reported stress. Moreover, increased interpersonal conflict, difficulty managing work and caregiving responsibilities, and increased economic challenges were the types of pandemic-related changes that most strongly predicted worse mental health, highlighting that juggling caregiving responsibilities and economic concerns, along with the pandemic’s impact on interpersonal family relationships are key predictors of worsening parental mental illness symptoms.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data Availability
All TBED-C and MTwiNS data for the current study will be shared publicly via the NIMH Data Archive, as mandated in our funding agreement. Publicly available study data: https://nda.nih.gov/edit_collection.html?id=2818. Burt, S. A., & Hyde, L. W.; 2017; Mechanisms underlying resilience to neighborhood disadvantage; NIMH Data Archive; 2818. All SAND data for the current study will be shared publicly via the NIMH Data Archive, as mandated in our funding agreement. Publicly available study data: https://nda.nih.gov/edit_collection.html?id=3306. Mitchell, C., Hyde, L. W., and Monk, C. S. 2019. Computational examination of RDoC threat and reward constructs in a representative, predominantly low-income, longitudinal sample at increased risk for internalizing disorders. NIMH Data Archive. 3306.
References
Banerjee D, Rai M (2020) Social isolation in Covid-19: the impact of loneliness. Int J Soc Psychiatry 66(6):525–527. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020764020922269
Pak A, Adegboye OA, Adekunle AI, Rahman KM, McBryde ES, Eisen DP (2020) Economic consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak: the need for epidemic preparedness. Front Public Health 8:241. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.00241
Nelson BW, Pettitt AK, Flannery JE, Allen NB (2020) Rapid assessment of psychological and epidemiological correlates of covid-19 concern, financial strain, and health-related behavior change in a large online sample. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/jftze
Rajkumar RP (2020) COVID-19 and mental health: a review of the existing literature. Asian J Psychiatry 52:102066. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102066
Heggeness ML, Fields J, García Trejo YA, Schulzetenberg A (2021) Tracking job losses for mothers of school-age children during a health crisis. United States Census Bureau. https://www-census-gov.proxy.lib.umich.edu/library/stories/2021/03/moms-work-and-the-pandemic.html
American Psychological Association (2020) Stress in America 2020: stress in the time of COVID-19. https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2020/stress-in-america-covid.pdf
Patrick SW, Henkhaus LE, Zickafoose JS, Lovell K, Halvorson A, Loch S, Letterie M, Davis MM (2020) Well-being of parents and children during the COVID-19 pandemic: a National Survey. Pediatrics 146(4):e2020016824. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2020-016824
Lee SJ, Ward KP, Chang OD, Downing KM (2021) Parenting activities and the transition to home-based education during the COVID-19 pandemic. Child Youth Serv Rev 122:105585. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105585
Evans S, Mikocka-Walus A, Klas A, Olive L, Sciberras E, Karantzas G, Westrupp EM (2020) From it has stopped our lives to spending more Time together has strengthened bonds: the varied experiences of Australian families during COVID-19. Front Psychol 11:2906. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.588667
Leach L, Butterworth P, Hokke S, Love J, Bennetts SK, Crawford S, Cooklin A (2023) How the mental health of working parents in Australia changed during COVID-19: a pre- to during pandemic longitudinal comparison. J Affect Disord 325:564–571. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2023.01.014
Pierce M, Hope H, Ford T, Hatch S, Hotopf M, John A, Kontopantelis E, Webb R, Wessely S, McManus S, Abel KM (2020) Mental health before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal probability sample survey of the UK population. The Lancet Psychiatry 7(10):883–892. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30308-4
Racine N, Hetherington E, McArthur BA, McDonald S, Edwards S, Tough S, Madigan S (2021) Maternal depressive and anxiety symptoms before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada: a longitudinal analysis. The Lancet Psychiatry 8(5):405–415. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(21)00074-2
Wright N, Hill J, Sharp H, Pickles A (2021) Interplay between long-term vulnerability and new risk: Young adolescent and maternal mental health immediately before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. JCPP Adv 1(1):e12008. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcv2.1200z
Skripkauskaite S, Creswell C, Shum A, Pearcey S, Lawrence P, Dodd H, Waite P (2023) Changes in UK parental mental health symptoms over 10 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. JCPP Adv 3(2):e12139. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcv2.12139
Brown SM, Doom JR, Lechuga-Peña S, Watamura SE, Koppels T (2020) Stress and parenting during the global covid-19 pandemic. Child Abuse Negl APA PsycInfo. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104699
Gassman-Pines A, Ananat EO, Fitz-Henley J (2020) COVID-19 and parent-child Psychological Well-being. Pediatrics 146(4):e2020007294. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2020-007294
Igielnik R (2021) A rising share of working parents in the U.S say it’s been difficult to handle child care during the pandemic. Pew Research Center, Washington D.C
Conger RD, Ge X, Elder GH Jr., Lorenz FO, Simons RL (1994) Economic stress, coercive family process, and developmental problems of adolescents. Child Dev 65(2):541–561. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1994.tb00768.x
Bronfenbrenner U, Morris PA (1998) The ecology of developmental processes. Handbook of child psychology: theoretical models of human development. Wiley, Hoboken
Abrams EM, Greenhawt M, Shaker M, Pinto AD, Sinha I, Singer A (2022) The COVID-19 pandemic: adverse effects on the social determinants of health in children and families. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 128(1):19–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anai.2021.10.022
Lantz PM, House JS, Mero RP, Williams DR (2005) Stress, life events, and socioeconomic disparities in Health: results from the americans’ changing lives study. J Health Soc Behav 46(3):274–288. https://doi.org/10.1177/002214650504600305
Pager D, Shepherd H (2008) The sociology of discrimination: racial discrimination in employment, Housing, Credit, and Consumer Markets. Ann Rev Sociol 34(1):181–209. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.33.040406.131740
Ruprecht MM, Wang X, Johnson AK, Xu J, Felt D, Ihenacho S, Stonehouse P, Curry CW, DeBroux C, Costa D, Phillips II, G (2021) Evidence of Social and Structural COVID-19 disparities by sexual orientation, gender identity, and Race/Ethnicity in an urban environment. J Urb Health 98(1):27–40. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-020-00497-9
Sellers RM, Copeland-Linder N, Martin PP, Lewis RL (2006) Racial identity matters: the relationship between racial discrimination and psychological functioning in African American adolescents. J Res Adolescence 16(2):187–216. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7795.2006.00128.x
Burt SA, Klump KL (2019) The Michigan State University Twin Registry (MSUTR): 15 years of Twin and Family Research. Twin Res Hum Genet 22(6):741–745. https://doi.org/10.1017/thg.2019.57
Reichman NE, Teitler JO, Garfinkel I, McLanahan SS (2001) Fragile families: sample and design. Child Youth Serv Rev 23(4):303–326. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0190-7409(01)00141-4
Suarez GL, Burt SA, Gard AM, Burton J, Clark DA, Klump KL, Hyde LW (2022) The impact of neighborhood disadvantage on amygdala reactivity: pathways through neighborhood social processes. Dev Cogn Neurosci 54:101061. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2022.101061
Tomlinson RC, Burt SA, Waller R, Jonides J, Miller AL, Gearhardt AN, Peltier SJ, Klump KL, Lumeng JC, Hyde LW (2020) Neighborhood poverty predicts altered neural and behavioral response inhibition. NeuroImage 209:116536. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116536
Beck AT, Steer RA, Brown GK (1996) Manual for the beck depression inventory-II. Psychol Assess. https://doi.org/10.1037/t00742-000
Beck AT, Epstein N, Brown G, Steer RA (1993) Beck anxiety inventory. J Consult Clin Psychol. https://doi.org/10.1037/t02025-000
Cohen S, Kamarck T, Mermelstein R (1983) A Global measure of perceived stress. J Health Soc Behav 24(4):385–396. https://doi.org/10.2307/2136404. JSTOR
Grasso DJ, Briggs-Gowan MJ, Ford JD, Carter AS (2020) The epidemic-pandemic impacts inventory (EPII). University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington
Haydon KC, Salvatore JE (2022) A Prospective Study of Mental Health, Well-Being, and Substance Use during the initial COVID-19 pandemic surge. Clin Psychol Sci 10(1):58–73. https://doi.org/10.1177/21677026211013499
Hezel DM, Rapp AM, Wheaton MG, Kayser RR, Rose SV, Messner GR, Middleton R, Simpson HB (2022) Resilience predicts positive mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic in New yorkers with and without obsessive-compulsive disorder. J Psychiatr Res 150:165–172. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2022.03.040
Hussong AM, Midgette AJ, Richards AN, Petrie RC, Coffman JL, Thomas TE (2022) COVID-19 life events spill-over on Family Functioning and Adolescent Adjustment. J Early Adolescence 42(3):359–388. https://doi.org/10.1177/02724316211036744
Williams L, Rollins L, Young D, Fleming L, Grealy M, Janssen X, Kirk A, MacDonald B, Flowers P (2021) What have we learned about positive changes experienced during COVID-19 lockdown? Evidence of the social patterning of change. PLoS ONE 16(1):e0244873. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244873
Benjamini Y, Hochberg Y (1995) Controlling the false Discovery rate: a practical and powerful Approach to multiple testing. J Roy Stat Soc: Ser B (Methodol) 57(1):289–300. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2517-6161.1995.tb02031.x
Falk CF (2018) Are robust standard errors the best approach for interval estimation with nonnormal data in structural equation modeling? Struct Equ Model: Multidiscip J 25(2):244–266. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705511.2017.1367254
Mann FD, Krueger RF, Vohs KD (2020) Personal economic anxiety in response to COVID-19. Pers Indiv Differ 167:110233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2020.110233
Adler NE, Newman K (2002) Socioeconomic disparities in health: pathways and policies. Health Aff 21(2):60–76. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.21.2.60
Braveman PA, Cubbin C, Egerter S, Williams DR, Pamuk E (2010) Socioeconomic Disparities in Health in the United States: what the patterns tell us. Am J Public Health 100(S1):S186–S196. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2009.166082
Williams DR, Jackson PB (2005) Social sources of racial disparities in Health. Health Aff 24(2):325–334. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.24.2.325
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the staff of the TBED-C and SAND studies for their hard work, and we thank the families who participated in TBED-C and SAND for sharing their lives with us.
Funding
This work was supported by funds from the National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institute of Health: R01MH103761 (PI: C.S.M.), R01MH121079 (PIs: C.S.M., C.M., L.W.H.), UH3MH114249 (PI: S.A.B. and L.W.H); the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institute of Health: R01HD093334 (PI: S.A.B. and L.W.H., R01HD093334-S1 (G.L.S.); the Brain and Behavior Foundation: NARSAD young Investigator Grant (L.W.H.); and the National Science Foundation: Graduate Research Fellowship (G.L.S.). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Institute of Health or the National Science Foundation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
G.L.S., S.A.B., L.W.H., C.M., and C.S.M.: contributed to the study concept. S.A.B., K.L.K., L.W.H., C.M., N.L.L., and C.S.M.: contributed to the study design. E.A.S.: performed exploratory and confirmatory analyses for the EPII and created the negative and positive change sum scores used in the paper. G.L.S., M.H.B., and P.G.: performed the main data analysis and interpretation of results under the supervision of L.W.H., S.A.B., C.M., and C.S.M. G.L.S., M.H.B., and P.G. drafted the manuscript, and S.A.B., E.A.S., C.M., N.L.L., K.L.K., C.S.M., and L.W.H.: provided critical revisions and intellectual content. All authors reviewed and approved the final version of the paper for submission.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no competing interests.
Ethical Approval
All study participants provided informed consent and study protocols for data presented in this report were approved by the University of Michigan Institutional Review Board. The study was performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Suarez, G.L., Boone, M.H., Burt, S.A. et al. Parent Mental Health Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-023-01642-6
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-023-01642-6