Abstract
The COVID-19 brought abrupt changes in the everyday lives of families with children worldwide. While existing research has highlighted the significant role of social support in promoting psychological well-being of both children and parents separately during the pandemic, less is known about how parents’ perceived support and life stressors may spill over to affect their children’s psychological well-being.
Participants (N = 546 families) were drawn from the Future of Families and Child Well-being Study (Reichman et al., 2001). Parents reported their perceived tangible social support (i.e., financial/ material aid; Cohen et al., 1983), family life stressors and financial threat (Grasso et al., 2020). Young adult children reported their psychological well-being (i.e., anxiety, depression, stress; Beck et al., 1988, 1961; Cohen et al., 1983) during COVID-19 pandemic.
The path model revealed significant negative direct effects between parental perceived social support and pandemic-related challenges, aligning with previous research suggesting that social support helps mitigate the impact of financial threats on mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, financial threats were significantly associated with young adult children’s anxiety, depression, and stress. The findings revealed significant indirect effects showing that the negative associations between parental perceived social support and young adult children’s psychological well-being were partially mediated by financial threat during COVID-19. Additionally, the findings showed significant indirect effect showing that the negative association between parental perceived social support and young adult children’s psychological well-being were partially mediated by COVID-19-induced family life stressors.
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The Role of Social Support on Pandemic Challenges for Parents and Young Adult Children
The COVID-19 brought abrupt changes in the everyday lives of families with children worldwide. While existing research has highlighted the significant role of social support in promoting psychological well-being of both children and parents separately during the pandemic, less is known about how parents’ perceived support and life stressors may spill over to affect their children’s psychological well-being.
Participants (N = 546 families) were drawn from the Future of Families and Child Well-being Study (Reichman et al., 2001). Parents reported their perceived tangible social support (i.e., financial/ material aid; Cohen et al., 1983), family life stressors and financial threat (Grasso et al., 2020). Young adult children reported their psychological well-being (i.e., anxiety, depression, stress; Beck et al., 1988, 1961; Cohen et al., 1983) during COVID-19 pandemic.
The path model revealed significant negative direct effects between parental perceived social support and pandemic-related challenges, aligning with previous research suggesting that social support helps mitigate the impact of financial threats on mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, financial threats were significantly associated with young adult children’s anxiety, depression, and stress. The findings revealed significant indirect effects showing that the negative associations between parental perceived social support and young adult children’s psychological well-being were partially mediated by financial threat during COVID-19. Additionally, the findings showed significant indirect effect showing that the negative association between parental perceived social support and young adult children’s psychological well-being were partially mediated by COVID-19-induced family life stressors.