IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i21p11136-d663116.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Family Function and Child Adjustment Difficulties in the COVID-19 Pandemic: An International Study

Author

Listed:
  • Sarah Foley

    (Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 8AQ, UK)

  • Farzaneh Badinlou

    (Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, 751 42 Uppsala, Sweden
    Centre for Psychiatry Research, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, 117 63 Stockholm, Sweden)

  • Karin C. Brocki

    (Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, 751 42 Uppsala, Sweden)

  • Matilda A. Frick

    (Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, 751 42 Uppsala, Sweden)

  • Luca Ronchi

    (Department of Brain and Behavioural Sciences, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy)

  • Claire Hughes

    (Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3RQ, UK
    i-FAM COVID-19 Consortium.)

Abstract

To estimate specific proximal and distal effects of COVID-19-related restrictions on families on children’s adjustment problems, we conducted a six-site international study. In total, 2516 parents from Australia, China, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America living with a young child ( M age = 5.77, SD = 1.10, range = 3 to 8 years, 47.9% female) completed an online survey between April and July 2020. The survey included the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and family risk factors (parent distress, parent–child conflict, couple conflict, and household chaos) as well as a scale to index COVID-19-related family disruption. Our analyses also included public data on the stringency of national restrictions. Across the six sites, parental responses indicated elevated levels of hyperactivity, conduct, and emotion problems in children from families characterized by heightened levels of parent distress, parent–child conflict, and household chaos. In contrast, increased peer problems were more strongly related to COVID-19-related social disruption and stringency measures. Mediation models demonstrated that associations between COVID-19 social disruption and child difficulties could be explained by parental distress. Taken together, these results suggest that although the experience of the pandemic differed across countries, associations between COVID-19-related family experiences and child adjustment difficulties were similar in their nature and magnitude across six different contexts. Programs to support family resilience could help buffer the impact of the pandemic for two generations.

Suggested Citation

  • Sarah Foley & Farzaneh Badinlou & Karin C. Brocki & Matilda A. Frick & Luca Ronchi & Claire Hughes, 2021. "Family Function and Child Adjustment Difficulties in the COVID-19 Pandemic: An International Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-14, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:21:p:11136-:d:663116
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/21/11136/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/21/11136/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thomas Hale & Noam Angrist & Rafael Goldszmidt & Beatriz Kira & Anna Petherick & Toby Phillips & Samuel Webster & Emily Cameron-Blake & Laura Hallas & Saptarshi Majumdar & Helen Tatlow, 2021. "A global panel database of pandemic policies (Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker)," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 5(4), pages 529-538, April.
    2. Estrella Romero & Laura López-Romero & Beatriz Domínguez-Álvarez & Paula Villar & Jose Antonio Gómez-Fraguela, 2020. "Testing the Effects of COVID-19 Confinement in Spanish Children: The Role of Parents’ Distress, Emotional Problems and Specific Parenting," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-23, September.
    3. Ezra Golberstein & Gilbert Gonzales & Ellen Meara, 2019. "How do economic downturns affect the mental health of children? Evidence from the National Health Interview Survey," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(8), pages 955-970, August.
    4. Albert Satorra & Peter Bentler, 2010. "Ensuring Positiveness of the Scaled Difference Chi-square Test Statistic," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 75(2), pages 243-248, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Verena Barbieri & Christian Josef Wiedermann & Anne Kaman & Michael Erhart & Giuliano Piccoliori & Barbara Plagg & Angelika Mahlknecht & Dietmar Ausserhofer & Adolf Engl & Ulrike Ravens-Sieberer, 2022. "Quality of Life and Mental Health in Children and Adolescents after the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Large Population-Based Survey in South Tyrol, Italy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-18, April.
    2. Catrin Johansson & Britt Hedman Ahlström & Marijana Barac & Therese Berglund & Kourosh Bador & Nóra Kerekes, 2024. "Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Swedish Adolescents’ Mental Health, Psychosocial Functioning, Risk Behaviours, and Victimisation: Gender Differences and Implications," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(5), pages 1-19, May.
    3. Markus Stracke & Miriam Heinzl & Anne Dorothee Müller & Kristin Gilbert & Anne Amalie Elgaard Thorup & Jean Lillian Paul & Hanna Christiansen, 2023. "Mental Health Is a Family Affair—Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis on the Associations between Mental Health Problems in Parents and Children during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-18, March.
    4. Barbara Forresi & Ludovica Giani & Simona Scaini & Giampaolo Nicolais & Marcella Caputi, 2023. "The Mediation of Care and Overprotection between Parent-Adolescent Conflicts and Adolescents’ Psychological Difficulties during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Which Role for Fathers?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-15, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Christoph Lindner & Ibolya Kotta & Eszter Eniko Marschalko & Kinga Szabo & Kinga Kalcza-Janosi & Jan Retelsdorf, 2022. "Increased Risk Perception, Distress Intolerance and Health Anxiety in Stricter Lockdowns: Self-Control as a Key Protective Factor in Early Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-22, April.
    2. Judit Temesvary & Andrew Wei, 2021. "Domestic Lending and the Pandemic: How Does Banks' Exposure to Covid-19 Abroad Affect Their Lending in the United States?," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2021-056r1, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), revised 17 Nov 2021.
    3. Jacqueline Ruth & Steffen Willwacher & Oliver Korn, 2022. "Acceptance of Digital Sports: A Study Showing the Rising Acceptance of Digital Health Activities Due to the SARS-CoV-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-16, January.
    4. Hannah Carver & Tracey Price & Danilo Falzon & Peter McCulloch & Tessa Parkes, 2022. "Stress and Wellbeing during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mixed-Methods Exploration of Frontline Homelessness Services Staff Experiences in Scotland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-20, March.
    5. Phurichai Rungcharoenkitkul, 2021. "Macroeconomic effects of COVID‐19: A mid‐term review," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 439-458, October.
    6. César Merino-Soto & Gina Chávez-Ventura & Verónica López-Fernández & Guillermo M. Chans & Filiberto Toledano-Toledano, 2022. "Learning Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ-L): Psychometric and Measurement Invariance Evidence in Peruvian Undergraduate Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-17, September.
    7. Carlos Díaz & Sebastian Fossati & Nicolás Trajtenberg, 2022. "Stay at home if you can: COVID‐19 stay‐at‐home guidelines and local crime," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(4), pages 1067-1113, December.
    8. Joël Cariolle & Florian Léon, 2022. "How internet helped firms to cope with COVID-19," Working Papers hal-03592617, HAL.
    9. Xiao Chen & Hanwei Huang & Jiandong Ju & Ruoyan Sun & Jialiang Zhang, 2022. "Endogenous cross-region human mobility and pandemics," CEP Discussion Papers dp1860, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    10. Alejandro G. Graziano & Yuan Tian, 2023. "Trade disruptions along the global supply chain," Discussion Papers 2023-06, University of Nottingham, GEP.
    11. Khan, Nawab Ali & Azhar, Mohd & Rahman, Mohd Nayyer & Akhtar, Mohd Junaid, 2022. "Scale development and validation for usage of social networking sites during COVID-19," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    12. Yekaterina Chzhen & Jennifer Symonds & Dympna Devine & Júlia Mikolai & Susan Harkness & Seaneen Sloan & Gabriela Martinez Sainz, 2022. "Learning in a Pandemic: Primary School children’s Emotional Engagement with Remote Schooling during the spring 2020 Covid-19 Lockdown in Ireland," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 15(4), pages 1517-1538, August.
    13. Csilla Horváth & Feray Adigüzel & Hester van Herk, 2013. "Cultural Aspects Of Compulsive Buying In Emerging And Developed Economies: A Cross Cultural Study In Compulsive Buying," Organizations and Markets in Emerging Economies, Faculty of Economics, Vilnius University, vol. 4(2).
    14. Mirko Licchetta & Giovanni Mattozzi & Rafal Raciborski & Rupert Willis, 2022. "Economic Adjustment in the Euro Area and the United States during the COVID-19 Crisis," European Economy - Discussion Papers 160, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    15. Lucia Freira & Marco Sartorio & Cynthia Boruchowicz & Florencia Lopez Boo & Joaquin Navajas, 2021. "The interplay between partisanship, forecasted COVID-19 deaths, and support for preventive policies," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-10, December.
    16. Galil, Koresh & Varon, Eva, 2024. "National culture and banks stock volatility," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    17. Das, Saikat & Bose, Indranil & Sarkar, Uttam Kumar, 2023. "Predicting the outbreak of epidemics using a network-based approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 309(2), pages 819-831.
    18. Anastasia Stathopoulou & Tommy Kweku Quansah & George Balabanis, 2022. "The Blinding Effects of Team Identification on Sports Corruption: Cross-Cultural Evidence from Sub-Saharan African Countries," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(2), pages 511-529, August.
    19. Clemens, Jeffrey & Hoxie, Philip & Kearns, John & Veuger, Stan, 2023. "How did federal aid to states and localities affect testing and vaccine delivery?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 225(C).
    20. Hammond, James & Siegal, Kim & Milner, Daniel & Elimu, Emmanuel & Vail, Taylor & Cathala, Paul & Gatera, Arsene & Karim, Azfar & Lee, Ja-Eun & Douxchamps, Sabine & Tu, Mai Thanh & Ouma, Emily & Lukuyu, 2022. "Perceived effects of COVID-19 restrictions on smallholder farmers: Evidence from seven lower- and middle-income countries," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:21:p:11136-:d:663116. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.