Effects of Covid-19 lockdown on parental functioning in vulnerable families

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused major changes to family life followed by a call for knowledge about how these changes have affected parental functioning, particularly in vulnerable families (Prime, Wade & Brooks, 2020). This study uses a natural experiment design to investigate the effect of the Covid-19 lockdown on parental mental health, parenting stress and three dimensions of destructive interparental conflict in a heterogeneous sample characterized by pre-existing relationship problems. Results from mixed model regression analyses showed that despite significantly higher levels of parenting stress in the lockdown group (n = 744 families) compared with the control group (n = 427 families), lockdown did not adversely affect parental mental health or levels of destructive conflicts behaviors. In fact, levels of verbal aggression and child involvement in conflict decreased during lockdown among parents living apart. Pre-existing destructive conflict levels, financial problems and age of youngest child did not moderate any of the associations. Thus, findings indicated that pre-existing family vulnerability did not predispose for reduced parental functioning during lockdown, beyond increased parenting stress. Resilient processes and an increased sense of purpose may be potential mechanisms. Caution should be taken when generalizing the findings due to the welfare context of the sample and as long-term lockdown effects were not investigated. Importantly, children in vulnerable families may have been negatively impacted by increased family time, despite relatively stable parental functioning during lockdown.

Experiencing Nature to Satisfy Basic Psychological Needs in Parenting: A Quasi-Experiment in Family Shelters

Finding fulfillment of basic psychological needs may be difficult for parents living in shelters after becoming homeless or after escaping violence. This study tested if experiencing nature was associated with the basic psychological needs of parents in shelters. Need satisfaction and need frustration were measured among parents in shelters (N = 160), with one measurement in the standard indoor context of the shelter and one measurement while experiencing nature. Experiencing nature was associated with enhanced need satisfaction (d = 0.28) and reduced need frustration (d = −0.24). The effect was especially pronounced for parents with young children. Our findings suggest that the physical environment matters for parents’ basic psychological need fulfillment as they interact with their children in the context of sheltering. This finding opens a potential avenue for supporting parental functioning and resilience in the face of risk if these effects were to be replicated across settings using controlled experimental designs. At the very least, the findings may be discussed with practitioners and parents in the context of making shelter life and work more conducive to mental health and family functioning.