The ecology of youth psychological wellbeing in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abstract

The consequences of profound disruption to everyday life caused by the COVID-19 pandemic will only emerge over time. Guided by ecological systems (Pitchik et al., 2021) and developmental psychopathology (Masten & Cicchetti, 2010) frameworks, I review evidence that points to parents at home with children as particularly vulnerable to increased psychological difficulties, particularly in contexts of poverty. Resultant compromised parenting may reduce children’s opportunities for the kinds of everyday interactions that promote cognitive and socioemotional development and expose them to increases in coercive, avoidant, and other problematic caregiving behaviours. I discuss three evidence-based strategies that parents could adopt to buffer their child’s mental health: building positive discipline strategies, talking with the child about the pandemic and its consequences, and conversing about the past. I conclude, however, that approaches to supporting parents and their children at this time must also address multisystem factors that compromise caregivers’ ability to provide nurturing care.

Making sense of the pandemic: Parent-child conversations in two cultural contexts

“…This is surprising, as from the theoretical viewpoint, it is developmentally a good time to discuss emotions with children in order to support their socio-emotional development [e.g., 20 , 21 ]. From the practical viewpoint, discussing emotions at difficult times is important for better coping and mental health [ 6 , 38 ]. The present study did not prompt for emotion talk and prior conversational studies focusing on other situations suggest that emotion talk is not very prominent [ 49 , 53 ].…”

“…It is probable that parents or children who are really struggling with coping in the new reality opted out of the study. Salmon [ 38 ] has pointed out that the pandemic could be especially detrimental to more vulnerable families and further research should make an effort to include a wider range of parents and children. Future studies could also clarify if the findings generalize to more educationally diverse samples.…”

“…Psychologists and researchers have also called attention to the importance of the opportunities for everyday conversations and parental engagement in children's meaning-making. They recommend parents to (a) provide children with adequate and relevant information, (b) listen for (and curtail sometimes harmful) magical thinking, and (c) participate in emotion-focused conversations [36][37][38].…”

Social Dynamics Covid-19 and Student Perceptions in Papua

“…How come? Data and facts show that the number of confirmed cases has reached 39 million (Salmon, 2021) and has even approached 100 million (Aisyah et al, 2020). Based on these data, the mortality rate is at least 2.…”

Maternal reminiscing as critical to emotion socialization

“…The COVID-19 pandemic and its’ sequalae, both behavioral, such as lock-downs, and emotional, such as increased anxiety levels, underscored the central importance of socioemotional skills in positive child development ( Hamilton & Gross, 2021 ; Salmon, 2021 ). Research on effective emotion socialization is more urgent than ever.…”