Parent Child Relationship During COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia

Background: Coronavirus disease in 2019, also known as COVID-19, is a respiratory disease that is cause by Severe Acute Respiratory Coronavirus 2. In March 2020, the World Health Organization Declared the disease as a pandemic. Social Distancing is to prevent the transmission of the virus from the asymptomatic persons, who are not yet isolated. Aim: To measure the parent-child relationship during the COVID-19 Social Distancing in Saudi Arabia. Method: A cross sectional survey study, done from 2020 April to July and shortly after the quarantine was stopped. Questionnaire used was the short version of a validated survey created by Robert Pianta to assess the parents-child relationship during and before the quarantine period in the western part of Saudi Arabia, mainly Jeddah and adjacent cities. Result: Total participants were 377, and the mean age of the parents is 37 years. On average, parents have from 1-3 children. The mean average number of hours parent stayed with their children before the Social Distancing was 8 hours and this increased to 12 hours after Social Distancing. Women tend to have average number of hours stayed with children higher than men. Comparing the closeness score and conflict score between before the Quarantine and after it showed a statistically significant more conflict before the Quarantine than after it. It was higher among female parents compared to male parents. For closeness there was no statistical significance as both scores were close to 31. Conclusion: There is a statistical significance improve in the closeness between parents and their children after the COVID-19 social distancing and more time spent with them. However, the conflict between mothers and their children were less comparing before and during the quarantine.