Employment Status and Psychosocial Adjustment Among Adolescents and Parents During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Multi-Informant Data From Ecological Momentary Assessments

• Published in: Developmental psychology 2024-02, Vol.60 (2), p.335-349
• Main Authors: Wang, Ming-Te, Scanlon, Christina L., Del Toro, Juan, Schall, Jacqueline D.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adjustment; Adolescent; Adolescent Development; Adolescents; Adult; American Indians; Asian Americans; Child; COVID-19; Ecological Momentary Assessment; Economic stress; Employment; Employment - psychology; Employment Level; Employment Status; Family (Sociological Unit); Family Socioeconomic Status; Female; Financial Strain; Government; Government subsidies; Human; Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Negative emotions; Occupational stress; Pandemics; Parent Child Relations; Parents; Parents & parenting; Parents - psychology; Psychosocial factors; Psychosocial Readjustment; Respondents; Sleep; Socioeconomic status; Stress; Subsidies; Teenagers; Work at home
• ISSN: 0012-1649; 1939-0599
• DOI: 10.1037/dev0001636

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many families experienced financial and health stressors associated with parental employment. Using multi-informant and daily-diary data from a nationwide U.S. sample of parents and children (626 dyads; 18,780 daily assessments across 30 days: May 18, 2020-June 1, 2020, October 19, 2020-November 2, 2020; parents: Mage = 43, 15% male; children: Mage = 15, 42% male; 36% Black, 26% White, 14% multiracial, 12% Latinx, 11% Asian American, and 1% Native American), this intensive longitudinal study investigated (a) the mediating role of health stress and financial stress in the link between parental employment status and psychosocial adjustment among adolescents and their parents and (b) whether this link differed by families' socioeconomic status or receipt of government subsidies. Results indicated that families who experienced job loss tended to report higher levels of health stress and financial stress, which in turn was associated with heightened negative affect and poorer sleep quality for both parents and adolescents. When parents work from home (WFH), families tended to have lower levels of health stress and financial stress, which in turn weakened the positive links with negative affect and sleep quality. Lower- (vs. higher-) income families experienced weaker protective effects associated with WFH arrangements. Government subsidies were associated with lower stress and better psychosocial outcomes in families experiencing job loss. Public Significance Statement During COVID-19, families experienced stressors associated with changes in parental employment. This study shows that flexible working schedules and government subsidies during periods of heightened family stress may serve as catalysts for family resilience, as they were associated with less impairment to family functioning. Clinicians should work closely with social workers to help increase patient literacy on available supports, especially for families whose circumstances are compounded by financial hardships.