(PS8-B32) Family Income and Child Age as Predictors of Parental Stress During COVID-19 Lockdown

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic brought about disruptions of daily life across the globe, leading to enormous strains on public health systems, educational disruption, social isolation, increased mental distress, and massive economic disturbances (WHO, 2020). Families with children were especially vulnerable, as schools shut down and child-care centers closed while parents were expected to either continue working in essential roles or work from home, causing increased financial and parenting stress (Low & Mounts, 2021). Parents with young children also had to take on the role of teacher in addition to their daily parenting role. Lower-income families faced these challenges in addition to increased financial distress from employment disruption. Lee and Lee (2011) reported how parental financial distress from low-income families increased risk for aggressive behaviors and poorer academic functioning in their children, further adding to parental distress.

Aims: The current project examined the impact of annual family income and child age on parental self-reported stress during the first wave of COVID-19 lockdown. We hypothesized that 1) parents with younger children would report higher levels of stress during lockdown due in part to the higher need for them to assist their children with schoolwork and 2) that parents with lower annual income would report higher levels of stress due to the economic uncertainty during the pandemic and less opportunity to work from home or take leave from work.

Methods: The current project used data from an online study with 421 MTurk participants collected during the first COVID-19 lockdown in April of 2020. Parents were asked to select their child aged 4 to 11 years of age that they were most concerned would be impacted by the COVID-19 lockdown when responding to the survey. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to determine if annual income and target child age predicted parent’s self-reported stress levels on the perceived stress scale (PSS).

Results: Multiple regression analysis found that both annual income and child age were significant predictors of parent PSS scores (R=.068, F(2, 417)= 15.096). Annual income was a significant predictor of PSS scores (β=-.219, p< .001), with parents reporting lower income rating their stress higher on the PSS. Age of the target child was also a significant predictor of parent PSS scores (β=-.119, p=.013), with parents reporting on a younger child scoring higher on the PSS. Both hypotheses were supported based on the current regression results.

These results further demonstrate the mental health burden that lower-income parents of young children take on. Possible causes of increased PSS scores for parents reporting lower-income and younger children include less social support, less access to resources (educational and healthcare), and low income families lacking necessary infrastructure (i.e. high-speed internet). Future research can expand on these results to identify risk and protective factors for families with young children from lower economic status.