Life course predictors of child emotional distress during the COVID-19 pandemic: Findings from a prospective intergenerational cohort study

P Letcher; CJ Greenwood; JA Macdonald; J Ryan; M O'Connor; KC Thomson; EJ Biden; F Painter; CM Olsson; B Edwards; J McIntosh; EA Spry; D Hutchinson; J Cleary; T Slade; CA Olsson

Journal article

Life course predictors of child emotional distress during the COVID-19 pandemic: Findings from a prospective intergenerational cohort study

P Letcher, CJ Greenwood, JA Macdonald, J Ryan, M O'Connor, KC Thomson, EJ Biden, F Painter, CM Olsson, B Edwards, J McIntosh, EA Spry, D Hutchinson, J Cleary, T Slade, CA Olsson

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines | WILEY | Published : 2024

DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.13995

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Abstract

Background: We examine precursors of child emotional distress during the COVID-19 pandemic in a prospective intergenerational Australian cohort study. Methods: Parents (N = 549, 60% mothers) of 934 1–9-year-old children completed a COVID-19 specific module in 2020 and/or 2021. Decades prior, a broad range of individual, relational and contextual factors were assessed during parents' own childhood, adolescence and young adulthood (7–8 to 27–28 years old; 1990–2010) and again when their children were 1 year old (2012–2019). Results: After controlling for pre-pandemic socio-emotional behaviour problems, COVID-19 child emotional distress was associated with a range of pre-pandemic parental life ..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Jacqui MacDonald Author

Meredith O'Connor Author

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INTERGENERATIONAL PREDICTION OF SOCIAL AND EARLY EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

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Grants

Awarded by University of Otago

Funding Acknowledgements

Data collection for the ATP study has been supported primarily through Australian grants from the Melbourne Royal Children's Hospital Research Foundation, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia, the Australian Research Council (ARC), and the Australian Institute of Family Studies. Funding for the current work was supported by grants from the Financial Markets Foundation for Children, ARC [DP130101459; DP160103160; DP180102447], the NHMRC [APP1082406], and for the COVID-19 wave, the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services, Morgan Stanley and the Vincent Chiodo Charitable Trust. CO and DH were supported by NHMRC investigator grants [APP1175086; APP1197488].