The COVID‐19 lockdown and psychological distress among Italian parents: Influence of parental role, parent personality, and child difficulties

Abstract

T he Italian lockdown following the spread of COVID-19 exposed residents to a long and unexpected period of managing offspring at home. Throughout this time, most parents continued to work remotely. The present research aimed at assessing multiple sociodemographic and psychological variables for parental well-being during the lockdown. An online survey was administered from 6 to 11 April 2020. Respondents were 917 parents aged 23-67 years with up to six children, aged 3-13 years. The measures employed were: 14 demographic questions, the Big Five Inventory (BFI-10), the Emotional Symptoms and Hyperactivity-Inattention subscales of the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ-P), and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). Multiple moderated linear regression analyses were performed. Motherhood, higher levels of education, higher neuroticism, lower extroversion, and more child emotional and hyperactivity-inattention symptoms were found to be significant predictors of parent distress. Furthermore, a significant two-way interaction between child emotional problems and parent extroversion was found. Overall, parents showed high rates of psychological distress, signalling severe difficulties during the lockdown. Families with a child suffering from emotional and behavioural difficulties should immediately be detected by social services to activate support interventions to prevent chronic and amplified manifestations of these problems.

Parenting during the COVID-19 Lockdown in Portugal: Changes in Daily Routines, Co-Parenting Relationships, Emotional Experiences, and Support Networks

“…Thus, corroborating the demands of a work-life balance, parental stress, and feelings of exhaustion might also explain our results since other studies revealed depressive, anxious, and stressful symptomatology among parents [ 6 , 8 , 11 ]. Congruent with current reports on teleworking during COVID-19 [ 9 ], in the present study, we reiterate the difficulty of maintaining a work-life balance.…”

“…Regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, the results of already available studies point out distinct outcomes to families worldwide. Among the outcomes are, for instance, those indicating that some parents had high levels of psychological distress and presented several difficulties [ 6 ] and that the impact of the confinement on children was mediated by its impact on parents: when parents faced more difficulties dealing with the lockdown and experienced more stress, children’s problems increased [ 7 ]. In fact, several aspects of family dynamics were challenged, to which the responses were diverse.…”

Mental sequelae of the Covid-19 pandemic: Well-being one year into the crisis in children with and without complex medical histories and their parents

“…Tracking these families as the pandemic evolved revealed compromised well-being in both children and parents, with up to one in three experiencing substantially compromised well-being during the first year of the COVID-19 crisis. In addition to confirming the drop in child and parent well-being during the first wave of the pandemic reported by previous studies [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27], the current study adds an important long-term perspective: Parents reported that the well-being of their children was lower during the first and third waves of the pandemic but not the second. Parents reported that their own well-being dropped during the first wave and remained low during the second and third waves.…”

Factors Related to Women’s Psychological Distress during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from a Two-Wave Longitudinal Study

“…Specifically, to prevent the chronic manifestations of mental problems, it is necessary to focus psychological preventive and therapeutic interventions on expressing emotions aimed at promoting the use of cognitive reinterpretation of the emotional impact linked to distressing situations. Moreover, policymakers should provide appropriate psychological and social support services to improve women’s emotional well-being, aimed at organizing and increasing resources to support individuals and families both during and after any lockdown measure [ 53 ]. Finally, further research is needed in order to focus on the gap in gender differences with regard to the impact of outbreaks across several domains.…”