Prevention Research Center, Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.
Social Policy Institute, Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 May 4;19(9):5586. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19095586.
Though the COVID-19 pandemic required significant changes and adaptations for most Americans, parents faced acute challenges as they had to navigate rapidly changing schooling and child care policies requiring their children to spend more time at home. This study examines the effects of COVID-19 school and workplace policies as well as environmental and economic characteristics on parental mental health, worry, hopelessness, and anxiety. Using data from four waves of the Socio-Economic Impacts of COVID-19 Survey and regression analysis, we explore associations between parents' mental health, worry, hopelessness, and anxiety and school learning environment, child grade and learning disability, employment characteristics, and sociodemographic factors. We find that having a child attend a private school or school with above average instructional quality was associated with better mental health of parents. Hybrid schooling options offering both in-person and online learning was associated with poor parental mental health, as was working from home. Being female or experiencing job or income loss were associated with worse mental health while having older children, a bachelor's degree, or high income were associated with better mental health. Results can help inform school and workplace family supports as well as opportunities to reduce mental health strains at home from various policy options.
尽管 COVID-19 大流行要求大多数美国人做出重大改变和适应，但父母在面临迅速变化的学校和儿童保育政策时面临着严峻的挑战，这些政策要求他们的孩子更多地呆在家里。本研究考察了 COVID-19 学校和工作场所政策以及环境和经济特征对父母心理健康、担忧、绝望和焦虑的影响。我们使用了来自四次 Socio-Economic Impacts of COVID-19 调查的数据和回归分析，探讨了父母心理健康、担忧、绝望和焦虑与学校学习环境、儿童年级和学习障碍、就业特征以及社会人口因素之间的关联。我们发现，让孩子就读私立学校或教学质量高于平均水平的学校与父母的心理健康状况较好有关。提供面对面和在线学习相结合的混合教育选择与父母的心理健康状况较差有关，在家工作也是如此。女性或经历失业或收入损失与心理健康状况较差有关，而拥有年龄较大的孩子、学士学位或高收入与心理健康状况较好有关。研究结果可以帮助为学校和工作场所的家庭提供支持，并为从各种政策选择中减少家庭的心理健康压力提供机会。
