Associations of Household Structure and Presence of Children in the Household with Mental Distress during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Purpose: The objectives of the current study were to: (1) assess the impact of household structure (i.e. living alone compared to living with children, a partner, or both) and presence of children on mental distress during the COVID-19 pandemic; and (2) determine whether these associations are moderated by income or sex.Results: A total of 2,524 adults aged 25-55 were included in the analytic sample. Multivariable linear regression models were used to examine associations between explanatory variables and mental distress, measured via the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-4. In adjusted models, each additional child under the age of 12 was associated a decrease in mental distress (β=-0.21, p=0.03). This finding was significant when adjusting for sociodemographic variables (age, sex, race, education, household income, living with a partner, and currently having a job) and historical depressive symptoms (CESD-8). Having children between the ages of 13 and 18 and household structure were not significantly associated with mental distress.Conclusion: This study supports prior literature that demonstrates the positive association of childrearing with psychological well-being, and suggests that these benefits may be present even under stay-at-home orders in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mental Health Trajectories of Latinx Female Caregivers and Young Children During COVID-19: A Longitudinal Analysis

“…However, there is evidence to suggest that mental health trends are not uniform, and that families' mental health during COVID-19 may differ based on several factors. For example, some research on the impact of COVID-19 on young children and their caregivers suggests that adverse mental health effects do not extend to young children (Gassman-Pines et al, 2020;Saleem et al, 2022) and their caregivers (Smail et al, 2020). Similarly, some research documenting the impact of COVID-19 on minoritized families suggests that despite a clear disproportionate impact in terms of COVID-19 exposure (Raviv et al, 2021), discrimination experiences during COVID-19 (Ruiz et al, 2020) and greater increases in unemployment related to the pandemic (Gezici & Ozay, 2020), minoritized children show unique mental health trends including no changes and even improvements in mental health symptoms during the pandemic as compared to prior (Bhogal et al, 2021;Penner et al, 2021;Raviv et al, 2021).…”

“…Of note, these studies did not specifically examine the experiences of caregiving for young children. Practices associated with caring for young children, such as consistent routines, may promote caregiver well-being (Gassman-Pines et al, 2020;Prime et al, 2020;Smail et al, 2020). One study found a larger increase in depression and anxiety for caregivers who were balancing home schooling and work responsibilities simultaneously and had difficulty obtaining child care, as compared to those who were not facing these same challenges (Racine et al, 2021a).…”

“…Caregiver responsibilities for young children may align with practices known to bolster well-being, including consistent routines, provision of family activities, and regular breaks from work (Prime et al, 2020). One cross-sectional study found that parenting young children may have mitigated the impact of COVID-19 on parents, with each additional child under the age of 12 predicting a decrease in parent mental distress (Smail et al, 2020). However, a separate study found that parents of young children reported negative mood more frequently during the pandemic than before, based on daily report from February through April 2020 (Gassman-Pines et al, 2020).…”

“…Importantly, studies examining mental health outcomes during the pandemic suggest that the burden of mental health challenges falls disproportionately on certain groups including individuals who identify as female (Chen et al, 2021;Duan et al, 2020;Smail et al, 2020), racial and ethnic minorities (Czeisler et al, 2020), and those experiencing financial stress (Mimoun et al, 2020). A systematic review of 19 population-level studies across eight countries identified female gender as a risk factor for negative mental health status during COVID-19, above and beyond environmental factors (Xiong et al, 2020), and female sex was also a risk factor for anxiety during COVID-19 among children and adolescents (Demaray et al, 2021;Duan et al, 2020).…”

A Repeated-Measures Study of Relational Turbulence and Transition Processing Communication During the Summer of COVID-19 (Summer 2020)

“…Moreover, parents who struggled with work-family balance as a result of the pandemic reported higher levels of stress and greater marital conflict (Chung et al, 2020). Although a study by Smail et al (2020) provided evidence that having young children was associated with decreases in mental distress during the pandemic, the weight of evidence suggests that many families struggled to manage the demands of job-related changes when they had children to attend to as well.…”