“Tell me what I’m doing wrong”: Criticism of parenting choices and mental health during COVID-19
Objective: To explore longitudinal associations between receiving criticism about parenting choices with parental anxiety, depression, and financial worries during COVID-19. Background: During COVID-19, parents have struggled with high levels of economic insecurity, parenting stress, and mental health difficulties. Parents were also forced to make difficult parenting decisions with little evidence-based guidance. Social cognitive theory suggests that receiving criticism (i.e., negative feedback) from others can contribute to psychological distress. Methods: Data were collected via an online survey at two time points during April 2020 from a national U.S. sample of 359 parents. Quantitative analyses were conducted using logistic and linear regression, and qualitative responses were coded to elucidate topics of criticism. Results: Mothers received more parenting criticism and reported higher levels of anxiety, depression, and financial worries than fathers. The most common sources of criticism were from one’s spouse/child’s other parent (T1: 67.65%; T2: 73.86%), one’s parents (T1: 30.77%; T2: 33.33%), in-laws (T1: 23.60%; T2: 25.00%), and social media (T1: 19.54%; T2: 14.08%). Criticism about parenting choices at T1 was associated with increased parental anxiety, depression, and financial worries at T2, after controlling for these outcomes at T1. Parents were criticized for lenient parenting (20.63%) and being too strict when making decisions related to COVID-19, (18.13%), illustrating the paradox of parenting during a pandemic. Conclusion and Implications: Receiving criticism about parenting choices may exacerbate mental health problems. Parents may benefit from receiving positive feedback about their parenting, either through social media or in conversations with family members.