Children’s Stress in the Time of COVID-19: Relationships with School, Social and Recreational Experiences

Autor: Brook E. Sawyer, Fathima Wakeel, Patricia H. Manz, Olivia Link
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2023
Předmět:
Zdroj: Education Sciences, Vol 13, Iss 7, p 630 (2023)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 13070630
2227-7102
DOI: 10.3390/educsci13070630
Popis: Introduction: In response to the public health threats during the pandemic, many schools shifted to online instructional delivery, and many children experienced changes to their social and recreational activities. While an emerging body of literature is documenting these changes or how these experiences may be related to parents’ and children’s functioning, no known study has examined all of these constructs. We investigated the degree to which schooling, social, and recreational experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic influenced the stress levels of school-age children. Further, recognizing the interconnectedness of parents’ and children’s lives, we examined whether parental stress mediated the relations between children’s experiences and child stress. Method: Parents of school-age children (N = 701) completed an online questionnaire with items focused on school modality (i.e., fully online or not), sufficiency of school resources, change in relationships, change in social/recreational activities, parental stress, and child stress. Results: The findings indicated that fully online school was not associated with child stress. Lower sufficiency of school resources, greater change in relationships, and greater change in social/recreational activities predicted higher child stress. Parental stress fully or partially mediated these relations. Discussion: Implications for educators are provided.
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