Remote learning and mental health during the societal lockdown: a study of primary school students and parents in times of COVID-19.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought challenges to families around the world. The prolonged school closures in Hong Kong have forced young students to stay at home and adapt to remote learning for over a year, putting their mental health conditions at risk. Focusing on primary school students and their parents, the main objective of our research is to investigate the socioemotional factors and their associations with mental health conditions. METHODS: A total of 700 Hong Kong primary schoolers (mean age = 8.2) reported their emotional experiences, loneliness, and academic self-concept via a user-friendly online survey; 537 parents reported depression and anxiety, perceived child depression and anxiety, and social support. Responses from students and parents were paired to account for the family context. Structural Equation Modeling was used for correlations and regressions. RESULTS: The results of students' responses showed that positive emotional experiences were negatively associated with loneliness and positively related to academic self-concept among students. Furthermore, the paired sample results showed that, during the one-year societal lockdown and remote learning period, the socioemotional factors were associated with mental health conditions among primary school students and their parents. Among our family sample in Hong Kong, evidence supports the unique negative association between students-reported positive emotional experiences and parents-reported child depression and anxiety, as well as between social support and parents' depression and anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlighted the associations between socioemotional factors and mental health among young primary schoolers during the societal lockdown. We thus call for more attention to the societal lockdown and remote learning context, especially since the social distancing practice could be "the new normal" for our society to handle the future pandemic crisis.

Subjective Well-Being among Parents of Children with Special Educational Needs in Hong Kong: Impacts of Stigmatized Identity and Discrimination under Social Unrest and COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic and social unrest have posed a unique set of challenges to Hong Kong. During these two social events, parents of children with special educational needs (SEN) who were already experiencing caregiving pressure, likely coped with additional stressors; they were at a higher risk of mental health problems. A pre-registered, cross-sectional survey study was carried out among 234 Hong Kong parents of children with SEN, investigating the associations of stigmatized identity, perceived discrimination, and subjective well-being under the impact of these social events. Utilizing the Bayesian modelling, we found that highly self-stigmatized parents not only perceived more daily-life discriminating behaviors against them, but also reported having higher distress, more negative emotions, and lower life satisfaction. A higher perceived impact of social events and more discrimination were also associated with lower well-being. Additionally, stigmatized identity, perceived discrimination, and perceived impact of social events demonstrated unique associations with well-being variables, indicating they were substantial stressors. The study called out for public attention to the mental health conditions among parents of children with SEN and other disadvantaged groups in society.

Under the same roof: Parents' COVID-related stress mediates the associations between household crowdedness and young children's problem behaviors during social distancing.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, families worldwide are confined in their homes for an extended period of time due to social distancing. Conducted between April and July of 2021, the current study examined the impact of household crowdedness during school closure on parents' COVID-related stress and young children's problem behaviors in Hong Kong, one of the world's most densely populated cities. Parents of 228 young children between 3- to 5-year-old reported their household living condition, parents' COVID-related stress, and their children's externalizing and internalizing behaviors through an online survey. The result revealed that household crowdedness was predictive of parents' COVID-related. Furthermore, parents' COVID-related stress significantly mediated the associations between household crowdedness and children's internalizing and externalizing behaviors, controlling for family socioeconomic status. The study contributed to the growing research on the impact of the physical living environment as part of the ecological systems on family and child functioning. In time of crisis, young children rely on schools to support their development and wellbeing. The current findings caution the decision of school closure.