Risk versus Resilience in Parents’ Health and Family Functioning Across the Pandemic

Are parents and families struggling with the ongoing demands of the pandemic, or are parents resilient and adjusted to the ‘new normal’? Assessing average risk versus resilience requires examining how parents and families have fared across the pandemic, beyond the initial months examined in prior investigations. The current research examines average levels of risk versus resilience in parents’ health and functioning over the first 1.5 years of the pandemic. Parents (N = 272) who had completed general assessments prior to the pandemic completed reassessments of psychological and physical health, couple and family functioning, and parenting within two lockdowns involving mandatory home confinement: at the beginning of the pandemic (26 March–28 April 2020) and 17 months later (18 August–21 September 2021). On average, parents exhibited declines in psychological and physical health (greater depressive symptoms; reduced well-being, energy and physical health) and in couple and family functioning (reduced commitment and family cohesion; greater problem severity and family chaos). By contrast, parent-child relationship quality and parenting practices were resilient with no average differences across the lockdowns. Declines in health and couple/family functioning generally occurred irrespective of pre-existing vulnerabilities (poor health and functioning prior to the pandemic) and external stress (reported impact of the pandemic). Partner support, however, tended to buffer declines in couple/family functioning. The results emphasize that attending to the challenges parents and couples face in the home will be important targets to mitigate the ongoing risks of the pandemic to parents’ and children’s well-being.