Centre for Mental Health Research and Treatment, Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo.
Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.
Dev Psychol. 2021 Oct;57(10):1681-1692. doi: 10.1037/dev0001237.
Developmental research during COVID-19 suggests that pandemic-related disruptions in family relationships are associated with children's mental health. Most of this research has focused on 1 child per family, thereby obfuscating patterns that are differentially operative at the family-wide (i.e., between-family) versus child-specific (i.e., within-family) levels of analysis. Thus, the current study evaluates multilevel, longitudinal associations between COVID-19 disruption, family relationships, and caregiver/child mental health using a sibling comparison methodology. Caregivers (N = 549 families with 1098 children between 5 and 18 years old) were recruited from the Prolific research panel (73% White-European; 68% female; 76% United Kingdom, 19% U.S.A.; median 2019 income $50,000-$74,999). Caregiver reports of COVID-19 disruption, psychological distress, family functioning, parenting, and child mental health (for 2 children per family) were provided during May (time 1) and July (time 2) 2020. A Bayesian multilevel path analysis with random effects revealed: (a) families were experiencing difficulties across domains when COVID-19 disruption was high; (b) COVID-19 disruption corresponded to greater sibling differences in mental health; and (c) the sibling with poorer mental health received lower quality parenting over time, especially in families who reported higher levels of differential parenting. Findings suggest that understanding children's mental health difficulties during COVID-19 requires a family system lens due to the multiple ways these consequences permeate across the family unit. Comprehensive interventions for children's mental health during this time will likely require an examination of caregiver, sibling, and whole-family dynamics in the context of evidence-based telehealth practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
在 COVID-19 期间开展的发展研究表明,与家庭关系有关的大流行相关干扰与儿童的心理健康有关。这项研究大多集中在每个家庭的 1 个孩子上,从而掩盖了在家庭范围(即家庭间)和特定儿童(即家庭内)分析水平上运作方式不同的模式。因此,目前的研究使用兄弟姐妹比较方法评估 COVID-19 中断、家庭关系和照顾者/儿童心理健康之间的多层次、纵向关联。从 Prolific 研究小组招募了照顾者(N=549 个家庭,每个家庭有 1098 名 5 至 18 岁的儿童)(73%的白种欧洲人;68%的女性;76%的英国,19%的美国;中位数 2019 年的收入为 50000-74999 美元)。在 2020 年 5 月(第 1 次)和 7 月(第 2 次)期间,照顾者报告了 COVID-19 中断、心理困扰、家庭功能、育儿和儿童心理健康(每个家庭 2 个孩子)。具有随机效应的贝叶斯多层次路径分析显示:(a)当 COVID-19 中断较高时,家庭在各个领域都面临困难;(b)COVID-19 中断对应于心理健康方面兄弟姐妹差异更大;(c)随着时间的推移,心理健康较差的兄弟姐妹得到的育儿质量较低,尤其是在报告差异化育儿水平较高的家庭中。研究结果表明,由于这些后果以多种方式渗透到家庭单位中,因此需要从家庭系统的角度来理解 COVID-19 期间儿童的心理健康困难。在此期间,针对儿童心理健康的综合干预措施可能需要在基于证据的远程医疗实践背景下,对照顾者、兄弟姐妹和整个家庭的动态进行检查。(PsycInfo 数据库记录(c)2021 APA,保留所有权利)。