Presenter: Ciera Sanders – Psychology
Faculty Mentor(s): Sihong Liu
Session: (Virtual) Oral Panel—Health and Social Science, Poster Presentation
Children are the beacons that will carry their knowledge, ideas, and voices into the future. It is crucial we ensure children are given ample opportunity to develop into healthy adults. Parental stress can negatively impact child well-being. Could the impacts be mitigated by consistent use of family routines? Using data from the RAPID-EC national survey that began in April 2020 and is still ongoing, I compared pre-pandemic ratings of parental stress and child well-being to assessment levels during the pandemic. Then, I examined how parental stress influences child well-being. I completed my analysis by examining the impact family routine has on parental stress and child well-being. I found that parental stress has significantly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, and child well-being was significantly and negatively impacted during the pandemic. Parental stress levels prior to the pandemic were significantly linked to increased levels of behavioral problems from pre-pandemic to during the pandemic. Further analysis determined family routines were not protecting children from the negative impacts of parental stress; however, family routines were significantly associated with lower levels of behavioral problems. Although family routines were not indicated as a source of protection from parental stress, managing family routines, and other tools for stress reduction could promote optimal developmental outcomes among young children during the COVID-19 pandemic.