Assessing the influence of parental anxiety on childhood anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic originated in Wuhan, China on December 31st and spread into international borders, leading to a public health crisis and complete shutdown of countries. The strict quarantine measures taken by governments kept a large number of people, around the world, in isolation and affected many aspects of people's lives. These unprecedented changes triggered a wide variety of psychological problems ranging from panic disorders, anxiety and depression. In this study, we aim to explore anxiety levels among parents, teachers and the general community amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the UAE, as well as identify emotional and anxiety disorders in children. Using a web-based cross-sectional survey we collected data from 2,200 self-selected assessed volunteers. Demographic information, knowledge and beliefs about COVID-19, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) using the (GAD-7) scale , emotional problems in children using the strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ), worry and fear about COVID-19, coping mechanisms and general health information were collected. The overall prevalence of GAD in the general population was 71% with younger people (59.8%) and females (51.7%) reporting the highest levels of anxiety. Parents who were teachers reported the highest percentage of emotional problems in children (26.7%) compared to parents only (14.6%) or teachers only (4.7%). Multivariate logistic regression for GAD-7 score showed that females, participants who felt public fear was justifiable, persons who worried about COVID-19, persons who intended to take the COVID-19 vaccine and smokers were all associated with anxiety. Multivariate logistic regression for SDQ showed parents who had severe anxiety levels were 7 times more likely to report more emotional problems in their children (OR=7.00, 95% CI, 3.45 to 14.0) than less anxious parents. Findings suggest the urgency of policy makers to develop effective screening and coping strategies for parents and teachers and more specifically for vulnerable children.

Investigating the effect of national government physical distancing measures on depression and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic through meta-analysis and meta-regression

“…These prevalences are greater than those found in the pre-COVID-19 era (GBD 2017 Diseases and Injuries Collaborators, 2018). Several studies have assessed depression and anxiety using scales involving self-reporting during the pandemic (Ahmad, Rahman, & Agarwal, 2020; Ahn et al, 2020; Ahorsu et al, 2020; Alyami et al, 2020; Amerio et al, 2020; Bachilo, Barylnik, Shuldyakov, Efremov, & Novikov, 2020; Bauer et al, 2020; Bauerle et al, 2020; Chang, Yuan, & Wang, 2020; Chen et al, 2020; Choi, Hui, & Wan, 2020; Civantos et al, 2020; Consolo, Bellini, Bencivenni, Iani, & Checchi, 2020; Fancourt, Steptoe, & Bu, 2020; Filho et al, 2020; Gao et al, 2020; Guo et al, 2020; Hu et al, 2020; Islam, Ferdous, & Potenza, 2020; Jia et al, 2020; Johnson, Ebrahimi, & Hoffart, 2020; Juanjuan et al, 2020; Kantor & Kantor, 2020; Khanna, Honavar, Metla, Bhattacharya, & Maulik, 2020; Killgore, Cloonan, Taylor, & Dailey, 2020; Lai et al, 2020; Lin et al, 2020; Liu, Zhang, Wong, Hyun, & Hahm, 2020a; J. Liu et al, 2020b; Mahendran, Patel, & Sproat, 2020; Mechili et al, 2020; Muñoz-Navarro, Vindel, Schmitz, Cabello, & Fernández-Berrocal, 2020; Naser et al, 2020; Nguyen et al, 2020; Olaseni, Akinsola, Agberotimi, & Oguntayo, 2020; Pieh, Budimir, & Probst, 2020; Qian et al, 2020; Que et al, 2020; Saddik, Hussein, Albanna, et al, 2020a; Saddik, Hussein, Sharif-Askari, et al, 2020b; Salman, Asif, et al, 2020a; Salman, Raza, et al, 2020b; Shi et al, 2020; Sigdel et al, 2020; Solomou & Constantinidou, 2020; Stickley, Matsubayashi, Sueki, & Ueda, 2020; Stojanov et al, 2020; Sun, Goldberg, Lin, Qiao, & Operario, 2020; Tang et al, 2020; Temsah et al, 2020; Ueda, Stickley, Sueki, & Matsubayashi, 2020; Wang et al, 2020; Weilenmann et al, 2020; Xiao et al, 2020; Yamamoto, Uchiumi, Suzuki, Yoshimoto, & Murillo-Rodriguez, 2020; Zhang et al, 2020; Zhao, Peng, Liu, & Ouyang, 2020a; R. Zhao et al, 2020b; Zhou et al, 2020…”

Measuring COVID-19 Related Anxiety in Parents: Psychometric Comparison of Four Different Inventories

“…Parents may play a crucial role in transmitting health beliefs and related behavior to their children [ 35 ]. Contemporary research has provided some evidence of the interconnected anxiety of parents and their children during pandemics [ 17 , 36 ], which could prompt a parent-based intervention approach to simultaneously address fears and burden in families.…”

Global prevalence of mental health issues among the general population during the coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…CI confidence interval, WHO World Health Organisation. Fig.1); 26.9% (95% CI 24.0-30.0) for anxiety (75 studies35,37,38,40,[42][43][44]46,[48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55]57,58,60,61,64,[66][67][68][69]71,[73][74][75][76][77][80][81][82][83]87,88,[91][92][93][94][95][96][97][98][99][100][101]104,105…”