Distance learning, parent–child interactions, and affective well-being of parents and children during the COVID-19 pandemic: A daily diary study.

Abstract

To slow down the spread of the COVID-19 virus, schools around the world were closed in early 2020, transferring children's scholastic activities to the homes and imposing a massive burden on parents and school-age children. Using data of a 21-day diary study conducted between March and April 2020 in Germany, this work examined whether (a) distance learning and (b) parents' involvement therein were associated with negative parent-child interactions and affective well-being of parents and children, over and above the effect of daily stressors. Participants were 562 parents (489 mothers, M age = 42.79, SD age = 6.12, range = 25-63) most of whom were married (n = 382, 68.0%). They responded to the daily items with respect to the youngest child living in their household (M age = 9.74, SD age = 2.81, range = 6-19). On days when children were working on school tasks, parents reported more negative parent-child interactions as well as lower parental and child positive affect and higher child negative affect, but not higher parental negative affect. Moreover, days when parents were more heavily involved in learning (i.e., when children worked less independently) were days with more negative parent-child interactions, lower parental and child positive affect, and higher parental and child negative affect. Negative parent-child interactions were linked to lower affective well-being of parents and children, and partially accounted for the relation among daily stressors and affective well-being. The present work highlights the need for measures to better support school-age children and their parents during distance learning.

Family risk and resilience in the context of cascading COVID-19 challenges: Commentary on the special issue.

“…Conflict also moderated the effects of the adolescents’ perceived stress on their psychological distress, consistent with greater vulnerability of youth in families with more conflict before schools reopened. Schmidt and colleagues (2021) found more negative parent–child interactions on days when families in Germany contended with distance learning at home, especially days that required more parent involvement in education activities. Moreover, negative interactions also were linked to the emotional well-being of parents and children.…”

“…As anticipated from multiple theoretical frameworks focused on families (noted above), the pandemic has disrupted many of the systems that children and parents count on in their lives for health, livelihood, education, recreation, and communication, as well as basic necessities of running a household and caring for the family. In turn, these disruptions led to many changes in family routines and rules (e.g., Browne et al, 2021; Bülow et al, 2021; Donker et al, 2021; Eales et al, 2021; Sun et al, 2021), shifted the time children and adolescents spent at home or with family rather than at school or with peers (Bülow et al, 2021; Gadassi Polack et al, 2021), and shifted the responsibilities of families in childcare and education (Eales et al, 2021; Schmidt et al, 2021).…”

Introduction to the special issue: Parenting and family dynamics in times of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“…The collection of studies in this special issue suggests that both the unique context and phase of the pandemic in a specific country and individual risk and resilience factors might explain why some families are more severely impacted by the pandemic than others. Some of the changes in family functioning were specifically related to preventive measures and restrictions on public life in that current time and region (Schmidt et al, 2021; Qu et al, 2021). In addition, levels of stress and coping with the pandemic within families varied from day to day, with more negative interactions between parents and children, as well as lower positive and higher negative affect in both caregiver and child, on days with more caregiver involvement in distance learning (Schmidt et al, 2021).…”

“…Some of the changes in family functioning were specifically related to preventive measures and restrictions on public life in that current time and region (Schmidt et al, 2021; Qu et al, 2021). In addition, levels of stress and coping with the pandemic within families varied from day to day, with more negative interactions between parents and children, as well as lower positive and higher negative affect in both caregiver and child, on days with more caregiver involvement in distance learning (Schmidt et al, 2021). This indicates that families may not only be in need of support in dealing with the pandemic as a disaster, but also with collateral effects of the preventive measures.…”

Parental evaluation of teachers’ competences and characteristics during COVID-19 pandemic homeschooling

“…Third, this study follows a cross-sectional design, and thus uses data collected only during the first COVID-19 school closure in Germany. Given the numerous changes within schools during pandemic closures, it is plausible that such parental evaluations could have been affected throughout the past year (Schmidt et al, 2021 ). Fourth, the data collected stems from two different states in Germany.…”