Children and COVID-19 Research Library

This study assessed the mental health of parents (N = 1450, Mage = 40.76) of special needs children during the COVID-19 pandemic. An online survey comprising items on demographic data; two self-designed questionnaires (children’s behavioral problems/psychological demand of parents during COVID-19); and four standardized questionnaires, including the General Health Questionnaire, Perceived Social Support, Parenting Stress Index, and Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Five Factor Inventory were conducted. The results showed that there were significant differences among parents of children with different challenges.

Pandemics can cause substantial psychological distress; however, we do not know the impact of the COVID-19 related lockdown and mental health burden on the parents of school age children. This study aims to comparatively examine the COVID-19 related stress and psychological burden of the parents with different occupational, locational, and mental health status related backgrounds.

Parental burnout (PB)—a condition characterized by intense exhaustion related to parenting, emotional distancing from one's children, and a loss of parental fulfillment—has received increasing attention in recent years, even more since the worldwide COVID‐19 crisis and the confinement of parents with their children. This crisis put the spotlight on parents’ suffering, and the need to better understand parental burnout and how to best assess and treat it emerged as a priority. This brief article introduces the Thematic Issue of New Directions in Child and Adolescent Development focused on the measurement of parental burnout across various regions of the world. It briefly reviews the concept of parental burnout, its phenomenological experience, its etiology and consequences, and its measurement.

This research brief is one of a series that explores the impact of COVID-19 on education. It focuses on the potential parental role in learning and its association with foundational reading and numeracy skills. Fifty-three per cent of children in low- and middle-income countries cannot read and understand a simple text by the end of primary school age. In low-income countries, the learning crisis is even more acute, with the ‘learning poverty’ rate reaching 90 per cent. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, 191 countries have implemented countrywide school closures, affecting 1.6 billion learners worldwide. In India alone, 320 million students from pre-primary to tertiary level are affected by school closures. In sub-Saharan Africa, 240 million are affected. With children currently not able to study in classrooms, the importance of learning at home is amplified and the task of supporting children’s learning has fallen on parents at a much larger rate. This is a significant burden, particularly for those who are also teleworking and those with limited schooling themselves.