Family Stress Processes Underlying COVID-19–Related Economic Insecurity for Mothers and Fathers and Children's Internalizing Behaviour Problems

Abstract

COVID-19 and its economic fallout have resulted in unprecedented financial insecurity and material hardship for many American families, with a disproportionately negative impact on children and families from socioeconomically disadvantaged contexts. The current study applied the family stress model to examine the family processes underlying pandemic-related economic insecurity and children's internalizing behaviours. Online survey data from an economically diverse sample of mothers and fathers, who experienced at least one type of pandemic-related economic insecurity in the United States (N = 259), were collected across two longitudinal time points in the early weeks of COVID-19: (1) 14 April and (2) 30 April of 2020. Parental depressive symptoms, negative partner relationship quality and harsh parenting were tested as mediators. Results from the path model showed that pandemic-related economic insecurity was associated with higher levels of parental depressive symptoms, which were then associated with higher levels of negative partner relationship quality. Negative partner relationship quality was subsequently associated with more harsh parenting, which was then associated with increased child internalizing behaviours. Indirect effects were found for all hypothesized mediators. The family stress model can be applied and extended to the early COVID-19 period. Child and family social work implications include targeting parents' mental health, relationship quality and parenting behaviours, as well as directly addressing financial and material hardship, to mitigate the adverse effects of pandemic-related economic insecurity on children's mental health.