Parents of young infants report poor mental health and more insensitive parenting during the first Covid-19 lockdown.

Publisher: BioMed Central Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 100967799 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1471-2393 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 14712393 NLM ISO Abbreviation: BMC Pregnancy Childbirth Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: London : BioMed Central, [2001-

COVID-19*/epidemiology ; Parenting*/psychology; Child ; Communicable Disease Control ; Fathers/psychology ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Mental Health ; Mothers/psychology ; Pandemics ; Parents/psychology ; Pregnancy

Background: The Covid-19 pandemic has put an unprecedented pressure on families with children. How parents were affected by the first Covid-19 lockdown during the early postpartum period, an already challenging period for many, is unknown.
Aim: To investigate the associations between Covid-19 related stress, mental health, and insensitive parenting practices in mothers and fathers with young infants during the first Dutch Covid-19 lockdown.
Methods: The Dutch Covid-19 and Perinatal Experiences (COPE-NL) study included 681 parents of infants between 0 and 6 months (572 mothers and 109 fathers). Parents filled out online questionnaires about Covid-19 related stress, mental health (i.e. anxiety and depressive symptoms), and insensitive parenting. Hierarchical regression models were used to analyze the data.
Results: Parents of a young infant reported high rates of Covid-19 related stress, with higher reported stress in mothers compared to fathers. Additionally, the percentages of mothers and fathers experiencing clinically meaningful mental health symptoms during the pandemic were relatively high (mothers: 39.7% anxiety, 14.5% depression; fathers: 37.6% anxiety, 6.4% depression). More Covid-19 related stress was associated with more mental health symptoms in parents and increased insensitive parenting practices in mothers.
Conclusions: The results emphasize the strain of the pandemic on young fathers' and mothers' mental health and its potential negative consequences for parenting. As poor parental mental health and insensitive parenting practices carry risk for worse child outcomes across the lifespan, the mental health burden of the Covid-19 pandemic might not only have affected the parents, but also the next generation.
(© 2022. The Author(s).)

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Keywords: Abuse; COVID-19; Fathers; Mothers; Parenting; Stress

Date Created: 20220410 Date Completed: 20220412 Latest Revision: 20220414

20240105

PMC8994419

10.1186/s12884-022-04618-x

35397538