Peer-reviewed article
Parenting and child well-being during the COVID-19 outbreak: The importance of marital adjustment and parental self-efficacy
Eva Diniz, Tânia Brandão, Lígia Monteiro, Manuela Veríssimo ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how marital satisfaction and parental self-efficacy affect children's social and emotional well-being during COVID-19 home confinement in Portugal. The researchers surveyed 163 caregivers with children averaging 6 years old who had been confined for about a month. The findings show that parents' satisfaction with their marriage was linked to better parenting confidence, which in turn was associated with children showing better social skills and fewer behavioral problems like aggression and anxiety.
Key points
- Marital satisfaction directly predicted higher parental self-efficacy
- Higher parental self-efficacy was associated with better child social competence
- Parental self-efficacy was negatively associated with child anger-aggression and anxiety-withdrawal
- The effect of marital satisfaction on child well-being was mediated through parental self-efficacy
- Most families were well-educated and living in metropolitan areas
Limitations
The study used cross-sectional data collected online during a specific period of confinement, so it cannot establish causality or determine whether effects persist beyond the initial lockdown period. The sample was predominantly highly educated and urban-based, limiting generalizability to other populations.
Abstract
The pandemic situation of COVID-19 has introduced new challenges on family routines, affecting interpersonal relationships, which may have detrimental consequences to child well-being. The current study aimed to examine the direct effects of marital adjustment on child socioemotional adjustment and to test if parental self-efficacy mediated this association during home confinement due to COVID-19. A final sample of 163 caregivers was recruited online during home confinement period. On average children were 6 years-old (SD=2.92; 44.8% girls). Caregivers and their child were in home confinement for an average of 31 days (SD=12.08). Most of the couples had been married or living together for an average of 14 years (SD=5.77) and had a university degree, mostly living in metropolitan areas. Caregivers answer to a set of measures assessing marital adjustment, parental self-efficacy, and child socioemotional competence and behavior. Findings depicted a direct effect on the positive association between marital satisfaction and parental self-efficacy, and negatively associated with anger-aggression. Parental self-efficacy was positively associated with child’s: social competence, negatively associated with anger-aggression, and anxiety-withdrawal. Indirect effects depicted that marital satisfaction was associated with child’s social competence, anger-aggression and anxiety-withdrawal through parental self-efficacy. Thus, higher marital satisfaction was associated with more parental self-efficacy which in turn was associated with more child’s social competence. Findings are relevant to the current state of the art, given the lack of information regarding imposed isolation due to COVID-19 and the consequences it may have to child’s well-being.