Understanding the Relationships between Parenting Stress and Mental Health with Grandparent Kinship Caregivers’ Risky Parenting Behaviors in the Time of COVID-19

• Published in: Journal of family violence Vol. 37; no. 5; pp. 847 - 859
• Main Authors: Xu, Yanfeng, Wu, Qi, Jedwab, Merav, Levkoff, Sue E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.07.2022; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Abused children; Aggressiveness; Behavior; Caregiver burden; Caregivers; Child abuse & neglect; Clinical Psychology; Coronaviruses; Corporal punishment; COVID-19; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Domestic relations; Epidemics; Grandchildren; Health behavior; Intergenerational relationships; Kinship; Kinship care; Law and Psychology; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental health; Original; Original Article; Pandemics; Parental stress; Parenting; Parents & parenting; Psychic assault; Psychological aspects; Psychological distress; Psychotherapy and Counseling; Punishment; Quality of Life Research; Stress; Stress (Psychology); United States; United States; Mental health; Neglect; Kinship care; Psychological aggression; Parenting stress; Grandparents; Corporal punishment
• ISSN: 0885-7482; 1573-2851
• DOI: 10.1007/s10896-020-00228-3

Grandparent kinship caregivers may experience increased parenting stress and mental distress during the COVID-19 pandemic. It may lead to risky parenting behaviors, such as psychological aggression, corporal punishment, and neglectful behaviors towards their grandchildren. This study aims to examine (1) the relationships between parenting stress, mental health, and grandparent kinship caregivers’ risky parenting practices, such as psychological aggression, corporal punishment, and neglectful behaviors towards their grandchildren during the COVID-19 pandemic, and (2) whether grandparent kinship caregivers’ mental health is a potential mediator between parenting stress and caregivers’ psychological aggression, corporal punishment, and neglectful behaviors. A cross-sectional survey among grandparent kinship caregivers ( N  = 362) was conducted in June 2020 in the United States. Descriptive analyses, negative binomial regression analyses, and mediation analyses were conducted using STATA 15.0. We found that (1) grandparent kinship caregivers’ high parenting stress and low mental health were associated with more psychological aggression, corporal punishment, and neglectful parenting behaviors during COVID-19; and (2) grandparent kinship caregivers’ mental health partially mediated the relationships between parenting stress and their psychological aggression, corporal punishment, and neglectful behaviors. Results suggest that decreasing grandparent kinship caregivers’ parenting stress and improving their mental health are important for reducing child maltreatment risk during COVID-19.