Child externalising and internalising behaviour and parental wellbeing during the Covid-19 pandemic

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Abstract

In this study we surveyed families’ experiences with parental depression, stress, relationship conflict and child behavioural issues during 6 months of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic through the Covid-19: Global Social Trust and Mental Health Study. The current analyses used data collected from online surveys completed by adults in 66 countries from 17 April 2020 to 13 July 2020 (Wave I), followed by surveys 6 months later at Wave II (17 October 2020–31 January 2021). Analyses were limited to 175 adult parents who reported living with at least one child under 18 years old at Wave I. Parents reported on children’s level of externalising and internalising behaviour at Wave I. At Wave II, parents completed self-reported measures of stress, depression and inter-partner conflict. Child externalising behaviour at Wave I significantly predicted higher levels of parental stress at Wave II, controlling for covariates. Child internalising behaviour at Wave I did not predict parental stress or depression, controlling for covariates. Neither child externalising nor internalising behaviour predicted parental relationship conflict. The overall findings demonstrate that child behaviour likely influenced parental stress during the Covid-19 pandemic. Findings suggest that mental health interventions for children and parents may improve the family system during times of disaster.

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A novel behavioural screening questionnaire, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), was administered along with Rutter questionnaires to parents and teachers of 403 children drawn from dental and psychiatric clinics. Scores derived from the SDQ and Rutter questionnaires were highly correlated; parent-teacher correlations for the two sets of measures were comparable or favoured the SDQ. The two sets of measures did not differ in their ability to discriminate between psychiatric and dental clinic attenders. These preliminary findings suggest that the SDQ functions as well as the Rutter questionnaires while offering the following additional advantages: a focus on strengths as well as difficulties; better coverage of inattention, peer relationships, and prosocial behaviour; a shorter format; and a single form suitable for both parents and teachers, perhaps thereby increasing parent-teacher correlations.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): UCL Open Environ

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): UCL Open Environ

Journal ID (publisher-id): UCLOE

Title: UCL Open Environment

Publisher: UCL Press (UK )

ISSN (Electronic): 2632-0886

Publication date (Electronic, pub): 16 September 2022

Publication date (Electronic, collection): 2022

Volume: 4

Electronic Location Identifier: e040

Affiliations

[1 ]School of Criminology and Justice Studies, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA, USA

[2 ]Department of Psychology & Human Development, University College London, UK

Author notes

*Corresponding author: E-mail: jill_portnoy@ 123456uml.edu

Author information

Jill Portnoy https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6879-5215

AnaCristina Bedoya https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6442-4908

Keri Ka-Yee Wong https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2962-8438

Article

DOI: 10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000040

PMC ID: 10208338

SO-VID: 2f7b2acc-aefe-4f23-b2a2-3f06c99343c6

License:

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY) 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.