COVID-19 and home confinement: A study on fathers, father-child relationships and child adjustment.
Carmen Trumello, Sonia M Bramanti, Lucia Lombardi and 8 others
PMID 34510515WHAT IT FOUND
Fathers in Italy reported their children's emotional problems and hyperactivity increased during lockdown.
Parenting stress was highest in those living in virus hotspots, those with high anxiety, and those feeling their relationship with the child had worsened.
Key findings
01Fathers reported significant increases in their children's emotional problems and hyperactivity during the lockdown compared to before.
02Living in regions with high contagion rates, high paternal anxiety, and perceived worsening of the father-child relationship were the main predictors of fathers' parenting stress.
03Fathers' perceived stress, depression, age, income, working from home status, and the child's sex or age were not associated with parenting stress.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Small sample size (102 fathers) limits generalizability. Cross-sectional design means we cannot say if anxiety caused stress or vice versa. All data on children's behaviour came from fathers' self-reports, which may be biased by their own mental state. Self-report measures do not provide clinical diagnoses.
Declared interests
None declared in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that economic hardship or working from home caused fathers' parenting stress in this study. The data showed no association between income, employment status, or smart-working and stress levels; instead, anxiety and relationship quality were the significant factors.