Abstract
Background: The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on child functioning have been especially pronounced among low-income families. Protective factors, including sensitive reminiscing and sufficient family resources, may reduce the negative effects of the pandemic on child adjustment.
Objective: The current study investigated how family resources during the pandemic, race, maltreatment, and pre-pandemic involvement in an emotion socialization intervention (M years ago = 4.37, SD = 1.36) were associated with child internalizing symptoms during the pandemic.
Participants and setting: The study utilized longitudinal data following 137 maltreating and low-income nonmaltreating mother-child dyads (M age = 9.08, SD = 1.88; 54.7% Male).
Methods: Mother-child dyads engaged in a randomized controlled trial of the Reminiscing and Emotion Training (RET; Valentino et al., 2019) intervention prior to the pandemic. Dyads discussed shared, past emotional experiences, and during the pandemic, mothers reported on their family resources and their child’s internalizing symptoms. A path analysis examined the effects of family resources, race, maltreatment, and the RET intervention on child internalizing symptoms.
Results: Family resources during the pandemic were significantly and inversely associated with child internalizing symptoms, b = -0.07, SE = 0.02, p < .01. There was a significant indirect effect of RET on child internalizing symptoms through sensitive reminiscing and a prior assessment of child maladjustment (95% CI [-0.294, -0.001]).
Conclusions: These findings suggest adequate family resources and sensitive maternal emotion socialization may be protective against child internalizing symptoms during the pandemic.
Keywords: COVID-19; Family resources; Internalizing symptoms; Intervention; Maltreatment; Reminiscing.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, Intervention, Family resources, Internalizing symptoms, Maltreatment, Reminiscing., 【초록키워드】 Randomized controlled trial, pandemic, COVID-19 pandemic, Symptom, Symptoms, family, Factors, age, emotion, resource, Protective, mother, Analysis, emotional, training, Longitudinal data, 95% CI, participant, Effect, resources, dyad, examined, significantly, reported, investigated, reduce, RET, 【제목키워드】 COVID-19 pandemic, Symptom, Child, emotion, resource, training, Effect, Examining,