Mediating Effects of Parental Stress on Harsh Parenting and Parent-Child Relationship during Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pand
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Mediating Effects of Parental Stress on Harsh Parenting and Parent-Child Relationship during Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic in Singapore Gerard Chung 1
&
Paul Lanier 1 & Peace Yuh Ju Wong 2
# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Because of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, “Circuit-breaker” safety distancing was implemented in Singapore from April to May 2020. Schools and workplaces were closed and parents had to balance telecommuting with parenting responsibilities. Coupled with the high degree of economic uncertainty and reduced social support, these circumstances are hypothesized to increase parenting stress. Based on the Parental Stress Model, this study aims to understand how parents’ perceived impact of COVID-19 increased harsh parenting and reduced parent-child relationship closeness through the mediating effects of parenting stress. We collected data from 258 parents living in Singapore using online surveys disseminated through Facebook and community organizations. Our predictor was the perceived impact of COVID-19. Parental stress (mediator) was measured with the Parental Stress Scale. Two outcomes were used: parent-child relationship closeness and harsh parenting (spanking, yelling). Using mediation analysis in the SEM framework, we tested the indirect effects using bias-corrected bootstrap confidence intervals. Our results indicated that parenting stress was a significant mediator in the relationship between the perceived impact of COVID-19 and (a) parent-child closeness (indirect effect = −.30, Bootstrap 99% CI[−.59, −.11]) and (b) harsh parenting (indirect effect = .58, Bootstrap 99% CI[.25, .94]). The impact of COVID-19 and stay-home orders can increase parenting stress. This, in turn, has a negative impact on parenting by affecting parents’ relationship with their children and increasing the use of harsh parenting. Given that these are risk factors for potential child abuse, supporting parents and mitigating the impact of COVID-19 are important. Keywords Coronavirus (COVID-19) . Singapore . Parental stress . Harsh parenting . Relationship
Introduction The coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has caused a pandemic of acute respiratory syndrome (COVID-19) with far-reaching global impacts. In January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the pandemic a “public health emergency of international concern” (WHO 2020). As of May 15, 2020, more than 4 million people worldwide had been
* Gerard Chung [email protected] 1
School of Social Work, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building, 325 Pittsboro Street CB# 3550, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3550, USA
2
Department of Social Work, National University of Singapore, BLK AS3 Level 4, 3 Arts Link Singapore, 117570 Singapore, Singapore
infected with COVID-19, resulting in 282,309 deaths as reported by the New York Times (2020) drawing data from various sources including WHO. Governments’ responses across the world have ranged from physical distancing to partial or c
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