Did the COVID‐19 pandemic make better parents? A qualitative exploration of parents' experiences during a historic period

• Published date: 01 February 2024
• Author: He Xiao
• Date: 01 February 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12961

RESEARCH

Did the COVID-19 pandemic make better parents?

A qualitative exploration of parents’experiences

during a historic period

He Xiao

University of North Texas, Denton, Texas

Correspondence

He Xiao, University of North Texas, 1155

Union Circle, Denton, TX 76203, USA.

Email: yuhegerrard@gmail.com

Abstract

Objective: To explore through the lens of the theoretical

framework whether parents achieved any forms of

improved parenting during the pandemic; in what way

parents improved, if any; and what led to improved

parenting.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and its repercus-

sions gave rise to multiple challenges and hardships con-

fronting children and parents. The ways parents handled

the parenting demands varied. The research documented

the presence of both unhealthy and nurturing parenting

behaviors during the pandemic. During this course in

which parents responded to the parenting demands, some

facets of parenting (e.g., parenting practices, parenting

cognitions) were subject to change. The current study

placed the focus on positive parental changes, if any.

Method: The study employed a phenomenological

approach. Fourteen parents (female =12; White =8;

Black =4, and Asian =2; 11 of 14 were upper- to lower-

middle-class families) constituted the sample. One-on-one

semistructured interviews were conducted over Zoom for

data collection. Thematic analysis was performed for data

analysis.

Results: Four themes were constructed: targeted parental

responses and changes, refined parenting skills and prac-

tices, enhanced understanding of parenting, and unsettled

parenting styles.

Conclusion: Some parents achieved improved parenting

(e.g., refined parenting skills, a new understanding of chil-

drearing). Whether and to what extent parents bettered

themselves were conditional on whether and how far par-

ents went to adapt or adjust their parenting.

Implication: Although substantially improving parenting

skills appears to be difficult, parents can still bring benefits

Received: 30 November 2022Revised: 30 August 2023Accepted: 4 September 2023

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12961

© 2023 National Council on Family Relations.

Family Relations. 2024;73:133–153. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare 133

to family by bettering themselves incrementally. Practi-

tioners need to be a source of reinvigoration for parents

who aim to improve their parenting and family equilib-

rium, particularly in the context of a crisis.

KEYWORDS

family adjustment and adaptation response model, improved parenting,

parent development theory, parenting during COVID-19,

phenomenological study, thematic analysis

In April 2022, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief medical advisor to the U.S. president, stated that

the COVID-19 pandemic

1

was downgrading to an endemic (Public Broadcasting

Service, 2022). In May 2023, the World Health Organization (2023) declared that the COVID-

19 was no longer a global health emergency. Undoubtedly, the pandemic’s aftermath is on the

wane, and society is returning to “normalcy.”However, the marks the COVID-19 left on soci-

ety are so profound that the dissipation of its psychological consequences on families and com-

munities is projected to take longer (Brooks, 2020).

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic globally in early 2020 left no one untouched.

Families were grappling with such plights as job loss, death of family members and friends,

emotional fluctuations, and escalation of family conflicts (Lebow, 2020). As main guardians of

family security and functioning, parents faced an array of challenges. Researchers

(e.g., Sahithya et al., 2020; Vaterlaus et al., 2021) evidenced that many parents were under enor-

mous stress in the pandemic, with the mounting stress taking a toll on parents’well-being and

then impacting their parenting practices (Lucassen et al., 2021; Romero et al., 2020). In parallel,

researchers (e.g., Adams et al., 2021; Cohodes et al., 2021; Tambling et al., 2021) documented

that many parents were sustaining family routines in everyday life and creating new activities

for engaging children in learning and recreation at home. In juggling demands associated with

parenting and working amid the COVID-19 pandemic, some parents became more reflective

and intentional in maintaining different types of relationships and setting boundaries (Arthur &

Guy. 2020). One of the primary byproducts of the pandemic—the extended time family spent

together, was found to be associated with stronger child–parent relationship in countless fami-

lies (Roshgadol, 2020).

It is evident that parents’experiences during the pandemic were heterogeneous. They were

not exclusively distressing and horrible; some were refreshing, uplifting, and empowering.

Although an emerging body of research has documented the positive sides of parenting, the par-

ticulars of pertinent experiences are less well understood, with few studies bringing the voice of

parents forward. Comparatively scarce is the research making an in-depth inquiry into what

contributed to favorable changes in parenting and how the involved family processes unfolded

during the pandemic. Hence, the present study seeks to answer some of those issues that have

not been considered or remain unresolved in the literature.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The current study synthesizes parent development theory (PDT; Mowder, 2005) and family

adjustment and adaptation response (FAAR) model (Patterson, 1988) as its theoretical frame-

work. PDT is concerned about how parents, along with parenting beliefs, cognitions, and prac-

tices, change as parents adjust and respond to life experiences, changing and developing child,

1

The follow terms are used interchangeably in the manuscript: COVID, COVID-19, COVID-19 pandemic, pandemic.

134 FAMILY RELATIONS