Because of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, "Circuit-breaker" safety distancing was implemented in Singapore from April to May 2020. Schools and workplaces were closed and parents had to balance telecommuting with parenting responsibilities. Coupled with the high degree of economic uncertainty and reduced social support, these circumstances are hypothesized to increase parenting stress. Based on the Parental Stress Model, this study aims to understand how parents' perceived impact of COVID-19 increased harsh parenting and reduced parent-child relationship closeness through the mediating effects of parenting stress. We collected data from 258 parents living in Singapore using online surveys disseminated through Facebook and community organizations. Our predictor was the perceived impact of COVID-19. Parental stress (mediator) was measured with the Parental Stress Scale. Two outcomes were used: parent-child relationship closeness and harsh parenting (spanking, yelling). Using mediation analysis in the SEM framework, we tested the indirect effects using bias-corrected bootstrap confidence intervals. Our results indicated that parenting stress was a significant mediator in the relationship between the perceived impact of COVID-19 and (a) parent-child closeness (indirect effect = −.30, Bootstrap 99% CI[−.59, −.11]) and (b) harsh parenting (indirect effect = .58, Bootstrap 99% CI[.25, .94]). The impact of COVID-19 and stay-home orders can increase parenting stress. This, in turn, has a negative impact on parenting by affecting parents' relationship with their children and increasing the use of harsh parenting. Given that these are risk factors for potential child abuse, supporting parents and mitigating the impact of COVID-19 are important.

Purpose: Because of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, “Circuit-breaker” safety distancing was implemented in Singapore from April to May 2020. Schools and workplaces were closed and parents had to balance telecommuting with parenting responsibilities. Coupled with the high degree of economic uncertainty and reduced social support, these circumstances are hypothesized to increase parenting stress. Based on the Parental Stress Model, this study aims to understand how parents’ perceived impact of COVID-19 increased harsh parenting and reduced parent-child relationship closeness through the mediating effects of parenting stress. Method: We collected data from 258 parents living in Singapore using online surveys disseminated through Facebook and community organizations. Our predictor was the perceived impact of COVID-19. Parental stress (mediator) was measured with the Parental Stress Scale. Two outcomes were used: parent-child relationship closeness and harsh parenting (spanking, yelling). Using mediation analysis in the SEM framework, we tested the indirect effects using bias- corrected bootstrap confidence intervals. Results: Our results indicated that parenting stress was a significant mediator in the relationship between the perceived impact of COVID-19 and (a) parent-child closeness (indirect effect = -.30, Bootstrap 99% CI[-.59, -.11]) and (b) harsh parenting (indirect effect = .58, Bootstrap 99% CI[.25, .94]). Conclusions: The impact of COVID-19 and stay-home orders can increase parenting stress. This, in turn, has a negative impact on parenting by affecting parents’ relationship with their children and increasing the use of harsh parenting. Given that these are risk factors for potential child abuse, supporting parents and mitigating the impact of COVID-19 are important.

Objective:To identify profiles of parents’ work-family balance (WFB) and social support and examine their links with parenting stress and marital conflict.Background:As part of the “Circuit-breaker” social distancing measure to address COVID-19, the government of Singapore closed schools and workplaces from April-May 2020. Although this helped reduce transmission rates, for working parents, this period had been a challenging experience of working from home while providing care for children full-time. Problems in the work-home interface can have a significant impact on parenting and marital harmony.Method:We collected data from 258 parents in Singapore using online surveys. Latent profile analysis was used to identify profiles of parents’ WFB and spousal and employer support. Linear regression was used to examine links between profiles with parenting stress and marital conflicts. Results:Results indicated three distinct profiles of WFB and social support levels: (a) Strong (43%), (b) Moderate (38%), and (c) Poor (19%). Mothers were more likely than fathers to be in the Moderate and Poor profiles. One key finding is that profiles characterized by poorer WFB were found to be linked with higher parenting stress and increased marital conflicts. Conclusion:There are important variations in parents’ abilities to balance work and family and levels of social support received. Lock-downs can be detrimental to parenting and marital harmony especially for parents with poor WFB and weak social support. Implications:Any attention given to supporting working parents is vital and urgent to counter any problems in the work–family interface during a lock-down

Parental involvement in their adolescents’ education plays an important role in promoting their children's academic outcomes. Yet, more research is needed to examine the relationship between parenting practices and parental warmth as well as to consider the potential joint contribution of warmth from both fathers and mothers. Thus, the primary purpose of the current study is to examine the extent to which patterns of parental warmth across fathers and mothers moderate the association between parental involvement and adolescents’ grade point average (GPA) and school engagement behaviors. Latent profile analysis was conducted to identify disparate profiles of fathers’ and mothers’ warmth within a nationally representative sample of 2,306 youths (51% male; mean age = 15.31 years, SD = 1.50; 77% non‐Hispanic White) residing in opposite‐sex, two‐parent families from Wave I and II of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Latent‐class enumeration processes support a five‐profile solution characterized by differences in levels of parental warmth and congruency across parents: (a) Congruent High Warmth, (b) Congruent Moderate Warmth, (c) Congruent Low Warmth, (d) Incongruent High Mother/Low Father Warmth, and (e) Incongruent Low Father/Lower Mother Warmth. Subsequent multiple linear regression analyses reveal a moderating effect for Congruent Low Warmth on the relationship between parental involvement and adolescents’ GPA. Ultimately, the results show that variation in parental warmth exists across fathers and mothers with differing impact on adolescents’ outcomes. Excluding one parent without considering the joint effects of both parents will not produce an accurate and precise understanding of parenting in research or practice.

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