4 - (Sym 7) Unique Patterns of Pandemic-related Experiences and Psychosocial Risk Among Families with and Without Children

Background. COVID-19 has had a profound impact on the everyday lives of families worldwide and created unique challenges for families with children. Previous work has linked contextual stress with negative impacts on caregiver mental health and parenting (Deater-Deckard, 2005), but less is known about risk associated with specific COVID-related stressors. The present study sought to address this new focal area using the Epidemic-Pandemic Impacts Inventory (EPII; Grasso et al., 2020) on a cross-sectional survey of adults residing in the Northeast region of the United States. Methods. Participants (N = 635) were recruited online over a 4-week period (April/May 2020) to complete measures that included the EPII and screens for depression (PHQ-9) and anxiety (GAD-7). Analyses compared caregivers of children less than 18 (63.2% of the sample) to non-caregivers on pandemic-related experiences and depression/anxiety. A machine learning approach using lasso regression with cross-validation was employed to determine which among the 92 EPII items were most predictive for classifying caregivers and non-caregivers with moderate-severe anxiety or depression. Results. A greater proportion of caregivers were in the 90th percentile of total pandemic-related stressors on the EPII in the work (19.1% v. 6.4%, c²=24.86, p< .001), home (26.0% v. 2.2%, c²=87.27, p< .001), and emotional/physical health domains (18.7% v. 7.9%, c²=17.02, p< .001), relative to non-caregivers. There were no significant differences between caregivers and non-caregivers screening positive for moderate-severe depression and/or anxiety (40.2% v. 39.7%, respectively, p>.1). However, our machine learning approach identified unique patterns of pandemic-related predictors of anxiety/depression between caregivers and non-caregivers; e.g., EPII items indicative of increased family conflict and household strain had greater associations with depression/anxiety among caregivers, whereas items indicative of social isolation and lifestyle changes had greater associations with depression/anxiety among non-caregivers. Conclusions. Findings suggest high rates of potentially serious risk factors among families with children that include increased partner conflict and harsh parenting. Unique associations between pandemic-related experiences and depression/anxiety risk between caregivers and non-caregivers may suggest unique targets for public health interventions developed to support families during similar public health disasters.