Home-Schooling During COVID-19 Lockdown: Effects of Coping Style, Home Space, and Everyday Creativity on Stress and Home-Schooling Outcomes

Abstract

The present study examined parents’ experiences of home-schooling their children during the first COVID-19 lockdown in the U.K. A total of 322 parents completed an online surveybetween the 1st May and the 24th July 2020. Relationshipswere explored between predictorvariables (coping mechanisms, household income, adequacy of space, access to “green”space) and outcome variables (parenting self-efficacy, discipline, home-schooling relationships)mediated by stress andmoderated by creativity and parenting dimensions.Moderatedmediation analyses showed that inadequate space at home and negative copingmechanismsresulted in elevated stress and worse outcomes in terms of parents’ approaches to disciplineand their experience of home-schooling their children. Negative outcomes were morepronounced for parents who used high levels of behavioral control. In turn, negativeoutcomes were reduced when parents had higher levels of self-perceived everydaycreativity and outcomes were improved by positive coping strategies. Our findings suggestthat interventions focused on developing creative self-efficacy and positive coping strategiesmay be effective routes to help parents deal with the stress of supporting their childrenwith periods of schooling at home during the COVID-19 pandemic