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Parental Mental Health and Children's Behaviors and Media Usage during COVID-19-Related School Closures
Parental Mental Health and Children's Behaviors and Media Usage during COVID-19-Related School Closures
- Source :
- Journal of Korean Medical Science
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- Korean Academy of Medical Sciences, 2021.
-
Abstract
- Background Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is different from previous disasters in that it continues to the present and has affected all aspects of family life. During epidemics, psychosocial support is not less important than infection control. During COVID-19-related school closures, prolonged partial closures of schools could have detrimental social and health consequences for children and may increase the burden on the family. Based on a community sample in Korea, this study identified parental concerns, children's media usage, other various factors and examined whether parental stress level or depression were positively associated with problem behaviors, media exposure, and sleep problems of the primary school children during school closure under COVID-19. Methods Participants were 217 parents residing in Suwon, South Korea, who had primary school children and responded to a web-based questionnaire on parental concerns from school closure under COVID-19, subjective stress, depression, whether having received mental health services, and family characteristics; children's sleep patterns, problem behaviors, media usage during the online-only class period, and changes in activity level following the pandemic. Results During school closure, children gained body weight, spent less time in physical activities and more in media usage. Besides online learning content (97.2%), YouTube was highly used content (87.6%), and games followed (78.3%). Parental subjective stress index was highly associated with parental depression (Pearson correlation 0.439, P < 0.001), children's sleep problems (0.283, P < 0.001), tablet time (0.171, P = 0.012) and behavior problems (0.413, P < 0.001). Parental depression was associated with children's sleep problems (0.355, P < 0.001), TV time (0.153, P = 0.024), tablet time (0.159, P = 0.019), and behavior problems (0.524, P < 0.001). Parents who previously received mental services seemed to be more concerned about the problems their children already have getting worse because of COVID-19 than the disease itself. Children's sleep problem was associated with tablet (0.172, P = 0.011) and smartphone time (0.298, P < 0.001), but not its frequency. Conclusion During COVID-19-related school closures, many parents and children had various difficulties relating to mental health. Ongoing monitoring of mental health of high-risk groups and multiple support systems may need to be expanded to cover those parents having difficulty in caring for their children.<br />Graphical Abstract
- Subjects :
- Male
Parents
Psychology, Child
Disease
Body Mass Index
0302 clinical medicine
Surveys and Questionnaires
Psychiatry & Psychology
030212 general & internal medicine
Parent-Child Relations
Social isolation
Child
Depression (differential diagnoses)
Mass media
Schools
Depression
Parental Mental Health, Children's Behaviors
General Medicine
School Closure
Family life
Social Isolation
Quarantine
Income
Original Article
Female
medicine.symptom
Psychology
Clinical psychology
Adult
Mental Health Services
Sleep Wake Disorders
Child Behavior Disorders
Education, Distance
03 medical and health sciences
Social support
Leisure Activities
Republic of Korea
medicine
Humans
Mass Media
Child Care
Exercise
Pandemics
SARS-CoV-2
business.industry
COVID-19
Social Support
Mental health
Media Usage
Sedentary Behavior
business
Body mass index
Procedures and Techniques Utilization
Stress, Psychological
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15986357 and 10118934
- Volume :
- 36
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Journal of Korean Medical Science
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....2db3b66cf7abe8fb21b438a390932a35
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2021.36.e184