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Child Adjustment During COVID-19: The Role of Economic Hardship, Caregiver Stress, and Pandemic Play

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) led to many lifestyle changes and economic hardships for families with young children. Previous research on risk and resilience highlights that children's adjustment to family hardships is influenced by caregiver stress, but individual child behaviors and...

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Autores principales: Thibodeau-Nielsen, Rachel B., Palermo, Francisco, White, Rachel E., Wilson, Alaina, Dier, Shannon
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8416273/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34484078
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.716651
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author Thibodeau-Nielsen, Rachel B.
Palermo, Francisco
White, Rachel E.
Wilson, Alaina
Dier, Shannon
author_facet Thibodeau-Nielsen, Rachel B.
Palermo, Francisco
White, Rachel E.
Wilson, Alaina
Dier, Shannon
author_sort Thibodeau-Nielsen, Rachel B.
collection PubMed
description The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) led to many lifestyle changes and economic hardships for families with young children. Previous research on risk and resilience highlights that children's adjustment to family hardships is influenced by caregiver stress, but individual child behaviors and characteristics may protect children from negative outcomes. Interestingly, many children have been reported to incorporate COVID-19 themes in their pretend play. Theory suggests children may do so to cope with pandemic-related stress, but no empirical studies have explored this possibility. The purpose of this study was to understand the process by which COVID-19 economic hardships experienced by a family were related to children's emotional well-being and development and to investigate how this process may vary as a function of children's engagement in pandemic-related pretend play. Caregivers (N = 99; mostly high earning families) of preschoolers ages 3–6 years (51% girls, 82% White) living in the United States participated in an online survey at two time points during the pandemic. Result revealed that COVID-19 economic hardships were related to increased caregiver stress, which, in turn, was associated with children's emotional distress and poorer self-regulation. However, engaging in pandemic-related pretend play appeared to protect children's well-being by weakening the adverse association between caregivers' stress and children's emotional distress. Thus, addressing caregiver stress levels and allowing children an outlet to cope with challenges through pretend play could have crucial protective effects on early development and well-being during times of crisis.
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spelling pubmed-84162732021-09-04 Child Adjustment During COVID-19: The Role of Economic Hardship, Caregiver Stress, and Pandemic Play Thibodeau-Nielsen, Rachel B. Palermo, Francisco White, Rachel E. Wilson, Alaina Dier, Shannon Front Psychol Psychology The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) led to many lifestyle changes and economic hardships for families with young children. Previous research on risk and resilience highlights that children's adjustment to family hardships is influenced by caregiver stress, but individual child behaviors and characteristics may protect children from negative outcomes. Interestingly, many children have been reported to incorporate COVID-19 themes in their pretend play. Theory suggests children may do so to cope with pandemic-related stress, but no empirical studies have explored this possibility. The purpose of this study was to understand the process by which COVID-19 economic hardships experienced by a family were related to children's emotional well-being and development and to investigate how this process may vary as a function of children's engagement in pandemic-related pretend play. Caregivers (N = 99; mostly high earning families) of preschoolers ages 3–6 years (51% girls, 82% White) living in the United States participated in an online survey at two time points during the pandemic. Result revealed that COVID-19 economic hardships were related to increased caregiver stress, which, in turn, was associated with children's emotional distress and poorer self-regulation. However, engaging in pandemic-related pretend play appeared to protect children's well-being by weakening the adverse association between caregivers' stress and children's emotional distress. Thus, addressing caregiver stress levels and allowing children an outlet to cope with challenges through pretend play could have crucial protective effects on early development and well-being during times of crisis. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-08-18 /pmc/articles/PMC8416273/ /pubmed/34484078 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.716651 Text en Copyright © 2021 Thibodeau-Nielsen, Palermo, White, Wilson and Dier. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Thibodeau-Nielsen, Rachel B.
Palermo, Francisco
White, Rachel E.
Wilson, Alaina
Dier, Shannon
Child Adjustment During COVID-19: The Role of Economic Hardship, Caregiver Stress, and Pandemic Play
title Child Adjustment During COVID-19: The Role of Economic Hardship, Caregiver Stress, and Pandemic Play
title_full Child Adjustment During COVID-19: The Role of Economic Hardship, Caregiver Stress, and Pandemic Play
title_fullStr Child Adjustment During COVID-19: The Role of Economic Hardship, Caregiver Stress, and Pandemic Play
title_full_unstemmed Child Adjustment During COVID-19: The Role of Economic Hardship, Caregiver Stress, and Pandemic Play
title_short Child Adjustment During COVID-19: The Role of Economic Hardship, Caregiver Stress, and Pandemic Play
title_sort child adjustment during covid-19: the role of economic hardship, caregiver stress, and pandemic play
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8416273/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34484078
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.716651
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