Relationship among Child Maltreatment, Parental Conflict, and Mental Health of Children during the COVID-19 Lockdown in China

Children are more likely to experience maltreatment and parental conflict in a pandemic context, which can exacerbate their vulnerability to psychological disorders. The purpose of the present study was to examine mental health symptoms in children aged 0 to 10 years and consider related factors from the perspectives of maltreatment and parental conflict during the COVID-19 lockdown. Participants were 1286 parents aged 18 years and over with children aged 0 to 10 years were included. Several multivariable linear regressions were used to analyze the data. The largest variance in child mental health was explained by child maltreatment, as more maltreatment predicted higher reported psychological problems (standardized beta = 0.49, P < 0.001). Comparatively, parental conflict predicted less variance in mental health problems than maltreatment (standardized beta = 0.18, P < 0.001). Children who experienced more maltreatment experience and exposure to COVID-19 showed elevated levels of mental health symptoms (standardized beta = 0.06, p < 0.05), as did those who experienced parental conflict and pandemic exposure (standardized beta = 0.06, p < 0.05). The findings highlight that tailored programs that focus on a healthy family environment and strategic parental support services may be particularly effective in reducing children’s mental health problems due to COVID-19 exposure.