Parental Factors Moderate the Association Between COVID-19 Disruption and Adolescent Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties

Abstract

Past work shows that COVID-19 impacted adolescent mental health, but the moderating role of parental factors remains unclear. Ninety-one parent-adolescent dyads (ages 12–15) completed online surveys. Parents reported on COVID-19 disruption within their household, their mental health, parental reflective functioning (i.e., ability to consider the mental state of their child), and their adolescent’s emotional and behavioural difficulties. Adolescents rated their own emotional and behavioural difficulties and perception of parental support. Positive associations between household COVID-19 disruption and adolescent difficulties emerged, regardless of informant. However, parental factors linked to adolescent difficulties varied by informant. Parental reflective functioning moderated the association between COVID-19 disruption and adolescent difficulties (parent-report). COVID-19 disruption showed some stronger associations with adolescent difficulties than other parental stress measures, but not consistently. Findings replicate and extend prior work, emphasizing the negative association between COVID-19 disruption and adolescent mental health, while highlighting parental reflective functioning’s potential for mitigating adolescent difficulties.