Parental worry, family-based disaster education and children's internalizing and externalizing problems during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABSTRACT

Objective: Internalizing and externalizing problems are prevalent in disaster-exposed children but few studies have investigated these problems in relation to parental factors. This study examined how parental worry and family-based disaster education related to children's internalizing and externalizing problems during the outbreak of COVID-19 in China. Method: Parents reported parental worry, family-based disaster education and their children's (5-8-year-old young elementary schoolchildren [n = 245] and 245 9-13-year-old early adolescents [n = 245]) internalizing and externalizing problems. Results: Data analysis showed that (a) across ages, parental worry related to children's internalizing and externalizing problems significantly and positively; (b) the significant and negative relationships between family-based disaster education and internalizing and externalizing problems were only supported in young elementary schoolchildren; and (c) high level of parent worry attenuated the negative link between family-based disaster education and young elementary schoolchildren's internalizing problems. Conclusion: This study expands our knowledge about relationships between parental worry and children's disaster-related well-being, and highlights the importance of adapting family-based disaster education to different ages. Data suggest that parents of young elementary schoolchildren and early adolescents both should avoid showing excessive worry in front of their children during the pandemic to help reduce their children's internalizing and externalizing problems. Effective family-based disaster education can mitigate young elementary schoolchildren's emotional distress and behavioral problems, the effect of which may be maximized if parents can avoid being overly worried. Parents of early adolescents should support their children in acquiring pandemic-related information independently and encourage them to seek support outside the family. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).