Journal
JOURNAL OF APPLIED DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
Volume 78, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC
DOI: 10.1016/j.appdev.2021.101375
Keywords
COVID-19 pandemic; Behavior problems; Behavior control; Peer social skills; Parent distress
Categories
Funding
- Institute of Education Sciences [R305N160024]
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The COVID-19 pandemic and associated government-imposed shutdowns disrupted the lives of school-aged children, potentially leading to an increase in behavior problems. Research found that parent distress and children's social-emotional skills were both related to child behavior problems, with higher parental distress associated with more problems and better social skills linked to fewer problems.
The COVID-19 pandemic and associated government-mandated shutdowns disrupted schooling, socialization, and family life for school-aged children during spring 2020. These disruptions may have contributed to increased child behavior problems. Thus, we examined behavior problems in 247 children aged 7 to 9 years during Ohio's shutdown period. We investigated whether differences in parent-reported child behavior problems were associated with concurrent parent distress during spring 2020 and/or children's social-emotional skills measured via teacher-reports from the previous year (spring 2019). Parent distress significantly predicted behavior problems, such that more distressed parents also reported more child behavior problems. Child pre-pandemic peer social skills also significantly predicted behavior problems, such that more skilled children exhibited fewer behavior problems. There were no interaction effects between parent distress and children's social-emotional skills on child behavior problems. Further research is needed to understand how children's social-emotional skills impact their ability to cope during times of epidemiological crisis.
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