Family socio-economic status and Chinese Preschoolers’ anxious symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic: the roles of parental investment, parenting style, home quarantine length, and regional pandemic risk

Abstract

Using data from 16,161 families with target child of 3-6 years old in Hubei, China during COVID-19 pandemic, this study examined the association between family socioeconomic status (SES) and preschoolers’ anxious symptoms (PAS). Parental investment and parenting style were tested as mediators for this association. Home quarantine length was tested as a moderator for this direct association and for the associations between family SES and parenting processes, whereas regional pandemic risk was tested as a moderator for the entire model. Results support the utility of Family Stress and Family Investment Models in a Chinese context by identifying unique roles of parental investment and parenting style in mediating the link between family SES and PAS. Quarantine length moderated the link between family SES and authoritarian parenting: Strength of this negative association was stronger for families with longer quarantine than for those with shorter quarantine. Further, family SES was negatively associated with PAS through its negative association with authoritarian parenting, regardless of the quarantine length. Model comparison analyses between high-risk region versus low/medium-risk region groups indicated that the pandemic risk for living regions did not alter any pathway in the model. Such findings inform the designs of targeted interventions to help families cope with pandemic-related challenges. Promoting parental investment and adaptive patenting style represents an avenue to diminish consequences of family economic hardship for young children's mental health, regardless of macrolevel pandemic risk. Interventions should attend to home quarantine duration, as it contextualizes the links among family SES, parenting, and child well-being.

Short-term and long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on child psychological well-being: a four-wave longitudinal study

“…Among those are socioeconomic stressors, such as caregiver job loss or reduction of working hours, financial insecurity, continuing changes of educational caregiving and schooling (e.g., combination of offline and online learning), as well as psychological stressors such as expectations and cognitions concerning the further course of the pandemic or anxiety concerning a COVID-19 infection of oneself or of close others (e.g., [ 37 ]; 43 ; 53 ). From a developmental perspective, this would suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic despite its wave-like loosening and tightening of public health measures poses a continual risk factor for child adjustment [ 12 , 14 , 15 , 36 , 40 , 42 , 46 , 51 , 70 , 74 , 79 ]. In addition, while governmental responses to the COVID-19 pandemic were direct and swift during the first months and highly supported by the public, political conflict and frustration in the public increased as the pandemic continued [ 7 , 37 ].…”

Parental burnout and resilience intervention among Chinese parents during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Recently some studies identified some unique risk and protective factors of parental burnout during COVID-19 in Eastern cultures. Zhang et al (2022) found that Chinese parents who need to balance work and parenting tasks in the shared environment during lockdowns suffered from higher levels of parental stress. A Vietnamese study showed that students’ behavior problems are also a risk factor for parental burnout and will reduce children’s academic outcomes ( Hong et al, 2022 ).…”

Unusual Experience in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Young Children’s Readjustment from Home to Preschool following School Closures in Different Risk Regions

“…Previous findings have shown that parent–teacher relationships and parent involvement are important factors in children’s social skills [ 76 ], academic achievements [ 77 ] and behaviors [ 78 ]. In the extended COVID-19 lockdown, parent–teacher communication and cooperation ensured teachers could share learning resources via online social media, e.g., procedures for establishing and maintaining predictable daily routines and guidance about parent–child interactions [ 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 ]. Preschool practices may also be associated with preschool readjustment for children, such as initially shortened school days, setting more flexible daily routines [ 85 ], paying more attention to young children’s socio-emotional state [ 8 ], and clarifying and helping children understand previous natural disasters [ 86 ].…”

“…This study mainly explored the influences of preschool transition practices and teacher-specific factors on children’s preschool readjustment and did not fully consider the familial influences. Third, the study was cross-sectional in design, precluding us from making any strong causal inferences [ 84 ]. Therefore, future research with triangulation of methods (e.g., observation and interviews), comprehensive influencing factors, and longitudinal designs is pressing.…”