Associations between parental wellbeing and early learning at home before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in China

Abstract

<p>During the COVID-19 pandemic, parents had to manage childcare while working from home, thereby experiencing considerable stress. There remains a paucity of studies that examine how pandemic-related changes in parental psychological and physical health predict investment in promoting children’s early learning at home. To address these research gaps, we leveraged data from a nationally representative sample of Chinese families. Longitudinal data were collected both before (2018) and during (2020) the pandemic. Parents of 1,155 preschoolers provided reports. Moderated mediation models were conducted. In 2018 and 2020, mothers and fathers rated their psychological wellbeing, depressive symptoms, physical health, and physical illness. In 2020, the principal caregiver reported how often there were intergenerational conflicts and between-spouse conflicts. In 2020, the principal caregiver reported how often he/she engaged in learning activities with the child at home, the amount of family expenditure on education, and time spent on childcare during the week. Official reports on the number of COVID-19 cases in each province three months before the 2020 assessment were collected. Results showed that changes in maternal psychological wellbeing, maternal physical health, and paternal psychological wellbeing predicted home learning activities. The change in maternal physical health predicted family expenditure on education and maternal childcare time, and the change in paternal depressive symptoms predicted paternal childcare time. Between-spouse conflicts mediated the association between maternal physical illness and maternal childcare time. The number of COVID-19 cases in a province was associated with more expenditure on education and more maternal childcare time and further moderated the predictions of maternal physical health and physical illness to different forms of investment in early learning. These findings indicate that changes of parental psychological and physical health associated with the pandemic as well as the COVID-19 situation of a province significantly foretell monetary and nonmonetary investment in early learning at home.<br></p>