COVID‐19 Impact on Parental Emotion Socialization and Youth Socioemotional Adjustment in Italy

Abstract

This study examines the change and associations in parental emotion socialization strategies in response to children’s negative emotions and youths’ adjustment, comparing before the Covid‐19 pandemic hit Italy and since the pandemic began. Participants were convenient cross‐sectional/normative (Study 1) and clinical/longitudinal (Study 2) samples of Italian parents whose children were in middle childhood and adolescence. In Study 1, self‐reported socialization strategies, youths’ maladjustment, and emotion dysregulation increased since the pandemic began. Whereas, in Study 2, socialization strategies and youths’ maladjustment decreased since the pandemic started. In both studies, unsupportive parental emotion socialization predicted youths’ maladjustment and emotion dysregulation, while supportive parental emotion socialization predicted adaptive emotion regulation. This study advances knowledge about the impact of the Covid‐19 pandemic on the family context.

Adolescence Amid a Pandemic: Short‐ and Long‐Term Implications

“…Despite the wave of mental health challenges many youths are facing, broader developmental challenges also bear note. Studies in this special issue point to disruptions in emotional development (i.e., elevations in stress and negative emotions—Deng, Gadassi Polack, Creighton, Kober, & Joormann, 2021; Maheux, Nesi, Galla, Roberts, & Choukas‐Bradley, 2021; Sabato et al., 2021; Shi & Wang, 2021), decrements in emotion regulation (Di Giunta et al., 2021), academic motivation challenges (Klootwijk, Koele, van Hoom, Güroğlu, & van Duijvenoorde, 2021), and threats to school bonding (Maiya, Dotterer, & Whiteman, 2021). These findings are consistent with prior research that has documented the impact of global financial upheavals—including the Great Depression and Great Recession—and international wars in deflecting young people’s larger educational and employment trajectories (Elder, 2018; Maclean, 2005; Schoon & Mortimer, 2017; Shores & Steinberg, 2019).…”

The Impact of the COVID‐19 Pandemic on Adolescent Emotional, Social, and Academic Adjustment

“…Among Swiss young adults, the prevalence of self‐injury did not change between the first lockdown and post‐lockdown, yet domestic violence increased in males (Steinhoff et al., 2021 ). Also, in a clinical group, maladjustment decreased since the pandemic started (Di Giunta et al., 2021 ). These findings might show that for some adolescents, the sudden lockdown‐induced changes went together with a reduction of daily stress and social pressure that might play a role in the development and persistence of their mental health symptoms (Bruining et al., 2021 ).…”

“…Positive relationships with parents were associated with better adjustment during the pandemic (Campione‐Barr, Rote, Killoren, & Rose, 2021), and paternal attachment insecurity strengthened the increase in loneliness during the pandemic (Janssens et al., 2021). Emotion socialization was particularly found to be important for adolescent adjustment: Unsupportive parental emotion socialization predicted youths’ maladjustment and emotion dysregulation (Di Giunta et al., 2021; Shi & Wang, 2021), and this effect was mediated by greater use of avoidance coping (Shi & Wang, 2021). These findings confirm that family relationships can offer comfort and support that might buffer the effects of the pandemic (see also Weeland et al., 2021).…”

The Interplay Between Problematic Online Pornography Use, Psychological Stress, Emotion Dysregulation and Insomnia Symptoms During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mediation Analysis

“…This appears particularly significant, especially in light of the effects that POPU (see Mauer-Vakil and Bahji 73 for a review), psychological stress, 74 emotion dysregulation, 75 and insomnia symptoms 76 these data appear particularly consistent and relevant also with respect to the current evidence related to the pandemic, which highlights high levels of POPU, psychological stress, emotion dysregulation, and insomnia symptoms. 58,[77][78][79] However, these findings have some limitations that should be noted. First, the cross-sectional nature of the study makes it impossible to draw inferences about causality in the associations between the variables.…”

“…Furthermore, these data appear particularly consistent and relevant also with respect to the current evidence related to the pandemic, which highlights high levels of POPU, psychological stress, emotion dysregulation, and insomnia symptoms. 58 , 77–79 …”