Parental Support during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Friend or Foe? A Moderation Analysis of the Association between Maternal Anxiety and Children’s Stress in Italian Dyads

Abstract

There is evidence that parental psychological disorders in stressful situations increase the risk of disturbance in child development. This has been investigated in disasters but not in pandemics, which are sensibly different from other types of traumatic events. We investigated the relationship between mothers’ anxiety and their children’s (self-reported) stress and the boundary conditions of this association during the first full COVID-19 lockdown in Italy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, mothers might have increased their protective attitudes to secure and support their children; we tested whether the relationship between mothers’ anxiety and children’s stress was weaker (buffer effect) or stronger (over-protection effect) when perceived parental support was high. We measured mothers’ anxiety, children’s perceived parental support, and children’s stress in a sample of 414 8- to 11-year-old primary school children (229 females, Mage = 9.44) and 395 mothers (Mage = 42.84). Results supported the over-protection scenario and provided the first evidence for the “helicopter-parent effect” during the COVID-19 pandemic: mothers’ anxiety was positively associated with children’s stress only when perceived support was high. Our finding highlights the importance of educating parents (for example, via emotional training) to prevent the worst consequences of adverse events in children and promote their mental health.