Abstract
Pandemic-related disruptions, including school, child care, and workplace closures, financial stressors, and relationship challenges, present unique risks to families’ mental health. We examined the mental health impacts of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic among parents with children <18 years old living at home over three study rounds in May 2020 (n = 618), September 2020 (n = 804), and January 2021 (n = 602). Data were collected using a cross-sectional online survey of adults living in Canada, nationally representative by age, gender, household income, and region. Chi-square tests and logistic regression compared outcomes between parents and the rest of the sample, among parent subgroups, and over time. Parents reported worsened mental health compared with before the pandemic, as well as not coping well, increased alcohol use, increased suicidal thoughts/feelings, worsened mental health among their children, and increases in both negative and positive parent–child interactions. Mental health challenges were more frequently reported among parents with pre-existing mental health conditions, disabilities, and financial/relationship stressors. Increased alcohol use was more frequently reported among younger parents and men. Sustained mental health challenges of parents throughout nearly a year of the pandemic suggest that intervention efforts to support family mental health may not be adequately meeting families’ needs. Addressing family stressors through financial benefit programs and virtual mental health supports should be further explored.
Highlights
Introduction iationsThe COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a substantial burden to population mental health worldwide, with experts calling on mental health professionals and health systems to prepare for long-term and potentially time-lagged increases in mental health demands [1,2].Population subgroups at greater risk of deteriorated mental health have been identified, including young people, frontline workers, those who contracted the COVID-19 virus, and people with pre-existing mental health conditions [2,3,4]
We examined research questions across three objectives: (1) How has the COVID-19 pandemic been associated with the mental health of parents and children at different timepoints during the pandemic, and are there mental health inequities according to social and structural marginalization? (2) How have parent–child interactions changed during the pandemic? (3) What are the factors that support parent and child mental health in the family context? Our analysis was largely exploratory; based on the literature, we hypothesized that self-reported mental health outcomes would be worse among parents facing social and structural marginalization, including pre-existing mental health challenges and disabilities, as well as pandemic-related stressors, including financial concerns, relationship challenges, and looking after children while continuing to work
This study identified that cross-sectionally, over the first year of the COVID-19 pan2 (31.7%) or round 3 (37.9%), whereas connecting in person with friends and family “in demic, parents with children
Summary
Introduction iationsThe COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a substantial burden to population mental health worldwide, with experts calling on mental health professionals and health systems to prepare for long-term and potentially time-lagged increases in mental health demands [1,2].Population subgroups at greater risk of deteriorated mental health have been identified, including young people, frontline workers, those who contracted the COVID-19 virus, and people with pre-existing mental health conditions [2,3,4]. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a substantial burden to population mental health worldwide, with experts calling on mental health professionals and health systems to prepare for long-term and potentially time-lagged increases in mental health demands [1,2]. The current study sought to explore the self-reported impacts of the pandemic on another population subgroup at potentially heightened mental health risks—parents with children living at home [5,6,7,8,9]. In addition to the anxieties and harms associated with the disease itself, financial and employment stressors, school and child care closures, caregiver burden, and physical distancing from family and friends have created unprecedented disruptions to the lives of Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
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