The Ecology of Youth Psychological Wellbeing in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Overview

Journal J Appl Res Mem Cogn

Publisher American Psychological Association

Specialty Psychology

Date 2021 Dec 13

PMID 34900521

Citations 1

Authors

Karen Salmon

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The consequences of profound disruption to everyday life caused by the COVID-19 pandemic will only emerge over time. Guided by ecological systems (Pitchik et al., 2021) and developmental psychopathology (Masten & Cicchetti, 2010) frameworks, I review evidence that points to parents at home with children as particularly vulnerable to increased psychological difficulties, particularly in contexts of poverty. Resultant compromised parenting may reduce children's opportunities for the kinds of everyday interactions that promote cognitive and socioemotional development and expose them to increases in coercive, avoidant, and other problematic caregiving behaviours. I discuss three evidence-based strategies that parents could adopt to buffer their child's mental health: building positive discipline strategies, talking with the child about the pandemic and its consequences, and conversing about the past. I conclude, however, that approaches to supporting parents and their children at this time must also address multisystem factors that compromise caregivers' ability to provide nurturing care.

Citing Articles

Making sense of the pandemic: Parent-child conversations in two cultural contexts.

Tougu P, Tulviste T, Schroder L PLoS One. 2023; 18(1):e0280781.

PMID: 36689431 PMC: 9870112. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0280781.

References

Lunkenheimer E, Skoranski A, Lobo F, Wendt K . Parental depressive symptoms, parent-child dyadic behavioral variability, and child dysregulation. J Fam Psychol. 2020; 35(2):247-257. PMC: 8058277. DOI: 10.1037/fam0000807. View

Achterberg M, Dobbelaar S, Boer O, Crone E . Perceived stress as mediator for longitudinal effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on wellbeing of parents and children. Sci Rep. 2021; 11(1):2971. PMC: 7859207. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-81720-8. View

Leech K, Wei R, Harring J, Rowe M . A brief parent-focused intervention to improve preschoolers' conversational skills and school readiness. Dev Psychol. 2017; 54(1):15-28. DOI: 10.1037/dev0000411. View

Goodman S, Simon H, Shamblaw A, Kim C . Parenting as a Mediator of Associations between Depression in Mothers and Children's Functioning: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev. 2020; 23(4):427-460. DOI: 10.1007/s10567-020-00322-4. View

Aknin L, De Neve J, Dunn E, Fancourt D, Goldberg E, Helliwell J . Mental Health During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Review and Recommendations for Moving Forward. Perspect Psychol Sci. 2022; 17(4):915-936. PMC: 9274782. DOI: 10.1177/17456916211029964. View

Rapa E, Dalton L, Stein A . Talking to children about illness and death of a loved one during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lancet Child Adolesc Health. 2020; 4(8):560-562. PMC: 7272150. DOI: 10.1016/S2352-4642(20)30174-7. View

Waters T, Camia C, Facompre C, Fivush R . A meta-analytic examination of maternal reminiscing style: Elaboration, gender, and children's cognitive development. Psychol Bull. 2019; 145(11):1082-1102. DOI: 10.1037/bul0000211. View

Dadds M, Tully L . What is it to discipline a child: What should it be? A reanalysis of time-out from the perspective of child mental health, attachment, and trauma. Am Psychol. 2019; 74(7):794-808. DOI: 10.1037/amp0000449. View

McGuire R, Hiller R, Cobham V, Haag K, Halligan S . A mixed-methods investigation of parent-child posttrauma discussion and the effects of encouraging engagement. Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2019; 10(1):1644127. PMC: 6711190. DOI: 10.1080/20008198.2019.1644127. View

10.

Van Bavel J, Baicker K, Boggio P, Capraro V, Cichocka A, Cikara M . Using social and behavioural science to support COVID-19 pandemic response. Nat Hum Behav. 2020; 4(5):460-471. DOI: 10.1038/s41562-020-0884-z. View

11.

Suskind D, Leffel K, Graf E, Hernandez M, Gunderson E, Sapolich S . A parent-directed language intervention for children of low socioeconomic status: a randomized controlled pilot study. J Child Lang. 2015; 43(2):366-406. PMC: 10835758. DOI: 10.1017/S0305000915000033. View

12.

Luthar S, Ebbert A, Kumar N . Risk and resilience during COVID-19: A new study in the Zigler paradigm of developmental science. Dev Psychopathol. 2020; 33(2):565-580. DOI: 10.1017/S0954579420001388. View

13.

Lovejoy M, Graczyk P, OHare E, Neuman G . Maternal depression and parenting behavior: a meta-analytic review. Clin Psychol Rev. 2000; 20(5):561-92. DOI: 10.1016/s0272-7358(98)00100-7. View

14.

Salmon K, McGuigan F, Pereira J . Brief report: Optimizing children's memory and management of an invasive medical procedure: the influence of procedural narration and distraction. J Pediatr Psychol. 2005; 31(5):522-7. DOI: 10.1093/jpepsy/jsj081. View

15.

Salmon K, Dadds M, Allen J, Hawes D . Can emotional language skills be taught during parent training for conduct problem children?. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 2009; 40(4):485-98. DOI: 10.1007/s10578-009-0139-8. View

16.

Harris P . Children's understanding of death: from biology to religion. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2018; 373(1754). PMC: 6053980. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0266. View

17.

Nelson K, Fivush R . The emergence of autobiographical memory: a social cultural developmental theory. Psychol Rev. 2004; 111(2):486-511. DOI: 10.1037/0033-295X.111.2.486. View

18.

Tang S, Xiang M, Cheung T, Xiang Y . Mental health and its correlates among children and adolescents during COVID-19 school closure: The importance of parent-child discussion. J Affect Disord. 2020; 279:353-360. PMC: 7550131. DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2020.10.016. View

19.

Lagattuta K, Sayfan L, Bamford C . Do you know how I feel? Parents underestimate worry and overestimate optimism compared to child self-report. J Exp Child Psychol. 2012; 113(2):211-32. DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2012.04.001. View

20.

Wright N, Hill J, Sharp H, Pickles A . Interplay between long-term vulnerability and new risk: Young adolescent and maternal mental health immediately before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. JCPP Adv. 2021; 1(1):e12008. PMC: 8206735. DOI: 10.1111/jcv2.12008. View