At Home and on the Brink: U.S. Parents’ Mental Health during COVID-19

Abstract

Though the COVID-19 pandemic required significant changes and adaptations for most Americans, parents faced acute challenges as they had to navigate rapidly changing schooling and child care policies requiring their children to spend more time at home. This study examines the effects of COVID-19 school and workplace policies as well as environmental and economic characteristics on parental mental health, worry, hopelessness, and anxiety. Using data from four waves of the Socio-Economic Impacts of COVID-19 Survey and regression analysis, we explore associations between parents’ mental health, worry, hopelessness, and anxiety and school learning environment, child grade and learning disability, employment characteristics, and sociodemographic factors. We find that having a child attend a private school or school with above average instructional quality was associated with better mental health of parents. Hybrid schooling options offering both in-person and online learning was associated with poor parental mental health, as was working from home. Being female or experiencing job or income loss were associated with worse mental health while having older children, a bachelor’s degree, or high income were associated with better mental health. Results can help inform school and workplace family supports as well as opportunities to reduce mental health strains at home from various policy options.

The intersection of childcare and health among women at a U.S. safety-net hospital system during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study

“…This may have been especially true for this study's participants given that they were all women with young children. Many participants noted that household and childcare duties were traditionally women's responsibilities regardless of whether they had a domestic partner, highlighting the disproportionate caregiving burden for women in the U.S. [13]. Women in our study were unable to optimally address their health issues despite wanting to do so and being motivated to do so, due to the need to manage competing priorities at home, including childcare, often with minimal support.…”

“…For women in our study, the interplay of childcare, household responsibilities and health issues led to cumulative stressors, which was overwhelming and contributed to emotional distress. Prior studies have similarly found that parents have been facing high levels of psychological distress and exhaustion during the COVID-19 pandemic, in part due to prolonged social isolation and increased care demands [13,20].…”

“…Women in our study were unable to optimally address their health issues despite wanting to do so and being motivated to do so, due to the need to manage competing priorities at home, including childcare, often with minimal support. Our ndings underscore the need for additional support systems that address family and social context to help patients, especially women with young children, to optimally manage their health [8, 13,19]. The Parkland-MIN collaboration to subsidize an onsite childcare center provides one example of a social care intervention that provides this additional support in the context of the health system.…”

“…Our ndings demonstrate the additional need for structural support systems to reduce the burden on mothers with young children. This includes not only providing early identi cation and referrals for mental health services but also advocating for expanded childcare assistance policies, such as childcare subsidies and paid family leave, at the state and federal levels [13,19].…”

“…Although much has been reported regarding parents' mental health during the pandemic [9,12,13], research has been lacking regarding women's efforts to address their own health issues and coexisting childcare needs.…”