(PS3-A21) Cumulative Risk of Number of Children Living in the Household and Socioeconomic Status on Adult Psychopathology During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background. The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated disruptions to daily life have introduced a multitude of novel stressors into the household. Households with children have been uniquely impacted by stressors such as school closures, remote learning, and inconsistent access to childcare. From a family systems perspective, these stressors can negatively impact all family members, even if an individual is not directly influenced by the stressor itself (Daks, 2020). Further, cumulative risk models suggest that the interaction amongst risk factors heavily influence mental health difficulties (LaNoue et al., 2020). Aim. We examined whether the number of children living in the household and socioeconomic status (SES, as indexed by household income) would cumulatively predict anxiety and depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic while controlling for race, gender, and education. Methods. Data were obtained from an open-access dataset from the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health collected during the COVID-19 pandemic. Canadian adults (N = 6558) reported on the number of children in the household (0, 1, or more than 1), their own mental health, and demographic factors. Results. A moderated regression analysis was conducted with SPSS PROCESS Macro. With depression as the outcome, a significant interaction was found between number of children and SES, F(4, 6546) = 2.56, p = .036. For those at both the lowest level of SES (under $40,000 per year) and the highest level of SES (over $80,000), no differences in depressive symptoms emerged for those living with no children compared to those living with one child; however, adults living with two or more children reported significantly higher levels of depression than those not living with children, (low SES: B = 0.36, 95% CI [.15, .56], SE = 0.11, p = .001; high SES: B = 0.12, 95% CI [.04, .20], SE = 0.04, p = .006). Interestingly, adults at the middle SES level (household income $40-79,000) reported a significantly more depressive symptoms if they were living with one child, B = 0.26, 95% CI [.12, .40], SE = 0.07, p < .001, or more than one child, B = 0.24, 95% CI [.09, .39], SE = 0.08, p = .002 compared to those living with no children. With anxiety as the outcome, there was a main effect of number of children in the household on anxiety, such that anxiety symptoms were significantly higher for those living with two children, B = 0.17, 95% CI [.00, .34], SE = 0.09, p = .002, and one child, B = 0.17, 95% CI [.00, .34], SE = 0.09, p = .002, compared to those not living with children. A main effect emerged for socioeconomic status, such that adults making between $40-79,000 per year, B = 0.17, 95% CI [.00, .34], SE = 0.09, p = .002, and those making over $80,000 per year, B = 0.17, 95% CI [.00, .34], SE = 0.09, p = .002, reported significantly less anxiety symptoms than those making under $40,000 per year. No interactions between number of children in the household and household income emerged. Race and gender were significant covariates in both models. Implications. Findings support a cumulative risk approach to psychopathology within the COVID-19 pandemic. Results contribute to evidence that some households (namely, those with more children and generally in lower income brackets) are disproportionately negatively impacted by the pandemic.