(PS9-C69) Parent and Child Anxiety During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Saturday, November 19, 2022

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM EST

Location: Westside Ballroom, 5th Floor

Author(s)

DR

Danielle Richardson, M.A.

PhD Student
Boston University
Boston, Massachusetts

Co-Author(s)

KN

Kate Newman, None

PhD Student
Boston University
Boston, Massachusetts
EB

Emily Barnes, B.A.

PhD Student
Boston University
Boston, Massachusetts
SV

Sharon Vaughn, Ph.D.

Endowed Chair in Education,executive director of The Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas
AG

Amie Grills, Ph.D.

Associate Provost for Undergraduate Affairs and Professor
Boston University
Boston, Massachusetts

While parents and children influence each other’s psychological functioning during non-disaster times, this effect may be amplified during COVID-19, especially within the domain of anxiety. Based on Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory (1992), parents are one of the most important factors in youth’s microsystem, and therefore have a direct influence on the psychological well-being of youth. In fact, literature suggests an association between parent and child mental health (Burstein et al., 2010; McClure et al., 2001). Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the ongoing systematic inequalities affecting communities of color and has further produced disparities in access to mental and physical health care (Hofmann 2021). To examine the association between parent and child anxiety during COVID-19, we examined children’s anxiety subscore on the Beck Youth Inventory and parent total score on the Beck Anxiety Inventory collected on three different time points (T1=October/November 2019, T2=May/June 2020, and T3=November 2020). Participants were 122 elementary school children between the ages of 8 and 10 (M=9, SD=.66) and their parents. The majority of students were enrolled in the 4th grade (n=66, 54%) and the remaining students were enrolled in the 3rd grade. Regarding gender, 51% of children identified as male (n=63) and 48% identified as female (n=59). The majority of children in this sample were Hispanic (n=89, 72%), followed by White not of Hispanic origin (n=21,17%), Black not of Hispanic origin (n=4, 3%), biracial (n=7, 5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (n=1, .8%). Further, 40% (n=49) of children were eligible for free or reduced priced lunch under the National School Lunch & Child Nutrition Program. The relationship between child and parent anxiety was investigated using the Pearson correlation coefficient which indicated no relationship at the first timepoint not during COVID-19 (T1 r= .08, p = .37) and a small positive correlation at the two later timepoints during COVID-19 (T2 r = .23, p </span>< .05 and T3 r = .23, p < .05), with levels of parent anxiety associated with levels of child anxiety. Further analysis will examine these associations within gender and race and discuss implications and further directions, specifically focusing on the importance of securing mental health support for parents in under-resourced communities, particularly during times of crisis.