THE ROLE OF PARENTS’ CHARACTERISTICS ON CHILD-PARENT RELATIONSHIPS IN HOMESCHOOLING DURING COVID-19 LOCKDOWN

Abstract

The COVID-19 crisis has interrupted the education systems in the Philippines and the whole world. Most families were forced into homeschool learning. However, carrying out homeschool learning has also placed a strain on child-parent relationships. One hundred thirty-five Filipino parents who were homeschooling their children during the Covid lockdown answered an online survey. This cross-sectional study investigated how parents’ characteristics such as faith-based role construction (FBRC) and parent-focused role construction (PFRC) influence child-parent relationships (CPR) in homeschool learning during the Covid crisis. This study also investigated the mediating role of parents’ self-efficacy (PSE) in helping their children succeed in school between parents’ FBRC and CPR. The mediating role of PSE between PFRC and CPR was also investigated. Results showed that FBRC of the parents has a direct positive association to child-parent closeness but not to child-parent conflict. The PSE mediated the relationship between the FBRC and child-parent closeness and conflict. The PFRC was not directly associated to child-parent closeness and conflict, however, there was an indirect association between PFRC and child-parent closeness and conflict when the PSE was placed as a mediator between PFRC and child-parent closeness. There was also an indirect association between PFRC and child-parent conflict when mediated by PSE. Implications for educational policy-making decisions were drawn. Likewise, recommendations to improve the child-parent relationship in homeschool learning were also offered.