Parental Worrying, Family Functioning, and Quality of Life During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The 2019 novel coronavirus pandemic has affected many aspects of American life, with reported increases in parental anxiety and adverse health outcomes among children. However, it is unknown how family functioning and parental anxiety may be associated with child health outcomes during this pandemic. Objectives:The aim of this study was to explore associations among parental worrying, family functioning, and the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of middle and high school-aged children in the United States during the 2019 novel coronavirus pandemic.Methods: Ninety-three parent-child dyads were recruited via snowball sampling through the WhatsApp messenger from December 2020 to February 2021 in this exploratory cross-sectional study. Each family completed a series of self-report measures, including the General Functioning Scale-Family Assessment Device and the Worry Domains Questionnaire for parent respondents and the KIDSCREEN-10 for child respondents. A hierarchical regression analysis was performed to examine effects of parental worrying and family functioning on the HRQoL of middle and high school-aged children.Results: Lower levels of parental worrying and better family functioning predicted better child HRQoL, whereas parental worrying was associated with worse family functioning. The relationship between family functioning and child HRQoL did not differ by levels of parental worrying. Increased child age and parental education were associated with worse child HRQoL.Discussion: The high socioeconomic status sample reported healthy family functioning during the 2019 novel coronavirus pandemic. Family functioning appears to improve child HRQoL consistently, even as parental worrying increases or decreases, although increased worrying would likely decrease family functioning and child HRQoL. The inverse relationships of parental educational attainment with family functioning and child HRQoL are surprising; they may be due to pandemic circumstances and the nature of the sample being high-socioeconomic status families with middle and high school-aged children.

Parent's influence and perception on the global development of their children during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Surprisingly and in line with our findings, Taha et al (2022) found that child quality of life during the pandemic was inversely associated with parental education. In that research, they also found that lower levels of parental worrying were related to a better child quality of life.…”

“…As children were older, parents were more likely to agree that they have been doing activities that could negatively influence their global development, and higher frequency of screen time. Increased child age was also associated with a worse quality of life during the pandemic, in Taha et al (2022) findings.…”

Family experiences during illness outbreaks: A systematic review

“…Across studies, higher rates of discord and disrupted family functioning have been identified amongst socially vulnerable family groups, for example, single parents with young children (Rudolph et al, 2021); those experiencing economic stress (Peltz et al, 2021; Westrupp et al, 2021); families with children with neurodevelopmental disabilities (Westrupp et al, 2021) or mental health concerns (Polack et al, 2021); and, families with parental mental illness (Taha et al, 2022; Westrupp et al, 2021; Wu et al, 2021). Lower levels of family cohesion have also been associated with weekly spikes in health-related stress (Peltz et al, 2021), suggesting for some, a relationship between Covid-19 health fears and family functioning.…”

“…Not all families reported positive experiences during the pandemic. Some families were more vulnerable than others, including single parents, those experiencing financial stress and unemployment, those with children with special needs or mental health issues and parents with their own pre-existing mental health issues (Polacak, et al, 2021; Peltz et al, 2021; Rudolph et a., 2021; Taha et al, 2022; Westrupp et al, 2021). Mothers in particular bore the brunt of the additional housework and childrearing responsibilities that occurred during the pandemic (Craig & Churchill, 2021; Del Boca, et al, 2021, Evans, et al, 2021; Frank et al, 2021; Gibbons, et al, 2021; Verweij et al, 2021) resulting in negative wellbeing impacts on women, and conflict in the dyad relationship (Craig & Churchill, 2021; Evans, et al, 2021).…”

In-Person Schooling Amidst Children’s COVID-19 Vaccination: Exploring Parental Perceptions Just after Omicron Variant Announcement

“…Remarkably, having older children (12–18 years) was associated with increased worries of Omicron. A study has shown that increased child age was associated with worse health-related quality of life during the COVID-19 pandemic as assessed by both parents and children [ 39 ]. And given that it may be more difficult for parents to ensure that an older child is protected from infection by the new variant, this may explain the higher worries experienced by parents of teenagers.…”