Abstract
Objective: The aim of the present work is to analyse families’ coping with the COVID-19 pandemic depending on available resources by examining the family as a cohesive system.
 Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected families in several ways, with many studies reporting a decreased well-being of children and parents. How families cope with the new situation is dependent on family resources and personal resources.
 Method: A mixed-method approach combines data from an online survey (N = 11,512) and complementary qualitative interviews. The study was conducted in spring 2020 during the initial COVID-19 lockdown in Germany. The study analyses how familial and individual resources affect the family climate and child well-being.
 Results: The study uncovered that although structural conditions, processes within the family, and individual ressources, especially the mothers working situation, are relevant for the COVID-19 experience. Family processes are the essential factor for positive family well-being. However, these processes meet their limits if the pre-existing conditions in the families are unfavorable. Nonetheless, children are also capable of developing their coping strategies.
 Conclusion: Future studies should examine families and their available resources as a whole system and include the children’s perspective.
Highlights
Since the beginning of the spread of the coronavirus in spring 2020, several measures were taken to slow down the rate of transmission of the disease in Germany
Based on a mixed-method study, we show that families’ structural conditions and interfamilial processes are of great importance for family well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic
We have argued that the COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant changes in the daily lives of families
Summary
Since the beginning of the spread of the coronavirus in spring 2020, several measures were taken to slow down the rate of transmission of the disease in Germany. Scholars suggest that the daily challenges of the pandemic are associated with stress experiences for parents (Feinberg et al, 2021; Zinn & Bayer, 2021) and a decline in the psychological well-being of children (The Children’s Society, 2020; Ravens-Sieberer et al, 2021; Jiao et al, 2020). These challenges do not affect all families . We argue that the way families adapt as a whole system has significant consequences for parent’s and children’s long-term adjustment (Neubauer et al, 2021)
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