Associations of youth mental health, parental psychological distress, and family relationships during the COVID-19 outbreak in China

Yashuang Bai; Xiaohan Liu; Bo Zhang; Mingqi Fu; Ning Huang; Qitu Hu; Jing Guo

doi:10.1186/s12888-022-03938-8

Associations of youth mental health, parental psychological distress, and family relationships during the COVID-19 outbreak in China

BMC Psychiatry. 2022 Apr 19;22(1):275. doi: 10.1186/s12888-022-03938-8.

Authors

Yashuang Bai¹, Xiaohan Liu¹, Bo Zhang², Mingqi Fu³, Ning Huang¹, Qitu Hu⁴, Jing Guo⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health, Peking University, 100191, Beijing, China.
² Department of Neurology and ICCTR Biostatistics and Research Design Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 02115, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
³ Center for Social Security Studies, Wuhan University, 430070, Wuhan, China.
⁴ College of Humanities Education, Inner Mongolia Medical University, 010110, Hohhot, China. huqitu123456@163.com.
⁵ Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health, Peking University, 100191, Beijing, China. jing624218@bjmu.edu.cn.

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought significant changes in society and family life, which could be particularly difficult for parents. The present study examines the relationship between youth mental health and parental psychological distress after the first peak of the COVID-19 Outbreak in China. The parent-child and marital relationships were examined as moderators of the above relationship.

Methods: Parents and their children aged 10 to 18 years were recruited for this study. The parents completed the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21), the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), and a subset of items from the questionnaire of the COVID-19 Supporting Parents, Adolescents, and Children in Epidemics (Co-SPACE) survey of parental mental health, child's psychological symptoms, parent-child, and marital relationship. Several multiple linear regressions were used to analyze the data.

Results: The largest variance in parental mental health was explained by the child's psychological symptoms (effect size beta = 0.27). Parent-child (effect size beta = -0.13) and marital relationship (effect size beta = -0.21) were negatively associated with parental mental health. The relationship between child's psychological symptoms and parental mental health was moderated by marital relationship (effect size beta = -0.07). Both parent-child and marital relationships presented with a significant interaction with impact scores, while only parent-child relationships with burden scores.

Conclusions: Youth mental health problems were significantly associated with parental psychological symptoms during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic The parent-child and marital relationship moderated the association between youth psychological symptoms and parental mental health. Interventions for alleviating parenting stress and support services that improve family relationships may be particularly effective in reducing parental psychological distress associated with future COVID-19 or related crises.

Keywords: COVID-19; Family Relationships; Mental Health; Parents; Youth.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
COVID-19* / epidemiology
Humans
Mental Health
Pandemics
Parent-Child Relations
Parenting / psychology
Parents / psychology
Psychological Distress*
Stress, Psychological / epidemiology
Stress, Psychological / psychology