Psychological impacts of COVID-19 on parenting and child behavior in Brazilian families: mediation effects of parental positive mental health

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the psychological impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on parental positive mental health, parenting and child’s behavior. Participants were 150 parents, mostly women (82.0 %), with a mean age of 38 years (SD = 5.4), mothers of children varying between 3 and 11 years of age (M = 6.1; SD = 2.5). Our path analysis model presented a good fit considering the indirect impacts of COVID-19 on parenting and child behaviors through the direct effect on parental mental health. The psychological impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic had a mediated effect through the parents’ mental health on the child’s behavior; however, it had no significant effect on parenting. Our results confirm some expectations reported by Brazilian and international researchers, who predicted impairments in the daily lives of families and the behavior of children during the period of social isolation.