Abstract
The onset of COVID-19 brought an immediate necessity for families and children to adjust to dramatic changes in everyday lives. While research has shown the important role of coparenting support on children’s well-being during pandemic, less is known about the long-term effects of pre-pandemic coparenting support on young adult children’s life stressors and psychological well-being after its onset. Such understanding is crucial for informing interventions that promote a strong family foundation before stressful events like COVID-19 and better adjustments for young adult children and their families in future crises.
Participants (N = 546 families) were drawn from the Future of Families and Child Well-being Study (Reichman et al., 2001). Mothers reported their perceived partner’s coparenting support (Dush et al., 2011) at year 9. Young adult children reported home life challenges and economic hardship (Grasso et al., 2020), and their psychological well-being (Beck et al., 1988, 1961; Cohen et al., 1983) at year 22 during COVID-19 pandemic.
The path model revealed significant negative direct effect between pre-pandemic coparenting support at year 9 and economic hardship at year 22 during COVID-19, aligning with the previous literature suggesting that coparenting support mitigate the negative impact of COVID-19 on life stressors. The findings revealed significant indirect effects showing that the negative association between pre-pandemic coparenting support and post-pandemic young adult children’s anxiety and depression were partially mediated by economic hardship during pandemic. Early coparenting support is essential for developing effective interventions that promote positive outcomes for families and their children.
Included in
Long-Term Effects of Pre-Pandemic Coparenting Support on Young Adults’ Well-being During COVID-19
The onset of COVID-19 brought an immediate necessity for families and children to adjust to dramatic changes in everyday lives. While research has shown the important role of coparenting support on children’s well-being during pandemic, less is known about the long-term effects of pre-pandemic coparenting support on young adult children’s life stressors and psychological well-being after its onset. Such understanding is crucial for informing interventions that promote a strong family foundation before stressful events like COVID-19 and better adjustments for young adult children and their families in future crises.
Participants (N = 546 families) were drawn from the Future of Families and Child Well-being Study (Reichman et al., 2001). Mothers reported their perceived partner’s coparenting support (Dush et al., 2011) at year 9. Young adult children reported home life challenges and economic hardship (Grasso et al., 2020), and their psychological well-being (Beck et al., 1988, 1961; Cohen et al., 1983) at year 22 during COVID-19 pandemic.
The path model revealed significant negative direct effect between pre-pandemic coparenting support at year 9 and economic hardship at year 22 during COVID-19, aligning with the previous literature suggesting that coparenting support mitigate the negative impact of COVID-19 on life stressors. The findings revealed significant indirect effects showing that the negative association between pre-pandemic coparenting support and post-pandemic young adult children’s anxiety and depression were partially mediated by economic hardship during pandemic. Early coparenting support is essential for developing effective interventions that promote positive outcomes for families and their children.