Parental Concerns during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Intersections for Racialized Mothers of Children with Disabilities

• Published in: Journal of child and family studies 2024-10, Vol.33 (10), p.3051-3067
• Main Authors: Buchanan, Tom, Phung, Naomi, Hammoud, Mimo, Kjartanson, Kathleen, Friesen, Angel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Child and School Psychology; Child Rearing; Children with disabilities; Concerns; COVID-19; Disability; Families & family life; Family (Sociological Unit); Intersectionality; Measurement; Minority Group Children; Minority groups; Mothers; Original Paper; Pandemics; Parent Role; Parents & parenting; Polls & surveys; Preschool children; Psychology; Racialization; Social Sciences; Sociology
• ISSN: 1062-1024; 1573-2843
• DOI: 10.1007/s10826-024-02887-y

Parents of racialized children and children with disabilities experience a unique set of challenges and stressors in their parenting role. Many studies now exist focusing on parenting during the pandemic. Yet, there is a need for more research examining how parenting during COVID is complicated for minority parents who have a child with a disability. For this project, we used the Crowdsourcing: Impacts of COVID-19 on Canadians-Parenting During the Pandemic, 2020 dataset. Data in this national survey was collected from June 9 to June 22, 2020 (Statistics Canada, 2020 a). We specifically examined how parenting at least one child with a disability intersected with being a racialized mother. After applying benchmarking and restrictions, the sample of 12,624 analyzed in this study consists non-Indigenous mothers with children either preschool age (0–5) or school age (6–14). The highest rates, across a broad range of concerns for children and family were reported by racialized mothers who also reported having child(ren) with a disability. Parents with only preschool children were less concerned for children but reported slightly higher levels of family concerns. A series of interactional analyses further revealed intersectional impacts on concerns between racialized mothers, parenting a child with a disability, and the age of the child. This study emphasizes the importance of intersectional considerations during the early pandemic relating to parenting for racialized mothers of children with disabilities. Societal implications, measurement/sample/analysis limitations, and policy implications are considered. Highlights Racialized mothers (visible minorities) with at least one child with a disability experienced significantly higher parenting concerns for children and family during the COVID-19 pandemic than other groups. Parents of preschool-age children had lower parenting concerns than parents of school-age children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding unique stressors experienced by racialized mothers with children with disabilities may provide opportunities for better community and service supports.