The lived experience of stress for parents in the context of COVID‐19–related disruption

• Published date: 01 October 2023
• Author: Felicity L. Painter,Anna T. Booth,Primrose Letcher,Craig A. Olsson,Jennifer E. McIntosh
• Date: 01 October 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12867

RESEARCH

The lived experience of stress for parents in the

context of COVID-19–related disruption

Felicity L. Painter

1

|Anna T. Booth

1

|Primrose Letcher

2,3

|

Craig A. Olsson

2,3

|Jennifer E. McIntosh

1,3

1

The Bouverie Centre, School of Psychology &

Public Health, La Trobe University,

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

2

Centre for Social and Early Emotional

Development, School of Psychology, Faculty

of Health, Deakin University, Burwood,

Victoria, Australia

3

Centre for Adolescent Health, Royal

Children’s Hospital Campus, Murdoch

Children’s Research institute, University of

Melbourne Department of Paediatrics,

Victoria, Australia

Correspondence

Felicity L. Painter, 8 Gardiner Street,

Brunswick, Victoria, Australia, 3056.

Email: f.painter@latrobe.edu.au

Funding information

Data collection for the Australian

Temperament Project Generation 3 Study has

been supported by grants from the Australian

Research Council (ARC DP130101459;

DP160103160; DP180102447) and the

National Health and Medical Research

Council (NHMRC APP1082406). Funding for

the COVID-19 wave was supported by the

Victorian Department of Health and Human

Services, Morgan Stanley, and the Vincent

Chiodo Charitable Trust. CO was supported

by an NHMRC Investigator Grant

(APP1175086). FP was supported by a La

Trobe University Graduate Research Training

Program Scholarship.

Abstract

Objective: This mixed methods study sought to explore the

lived experience of stress for parents of young dependent

children during COVID-19 lockdowns in Australia.

Background: Public health restrictions implemented during

the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately burdened par-

ents as they balanced novel and competing role demands.

Despite growing research on impacts to parent mental

health, much less is known about parenting at the experien-

tial level during this period.

Method: Data were derived from free-text survey responses

collected during 2020 in an Australian population cohort study

and analyzed in a mixed methods approach focusing on

descriptive phenomenology. Twenty-eight parent accounts of

either ‘extreme’or ‘minimal’stress experiences were subject to

phenomenological analysis of the individual, interpersonal,

and contextual factors associated with each stress category.

Results: Three themes defined ‘extreme’stress experiences:

inadequacy of resources to cope, perceived lack of control,

and compounding stressors. Two themes characterized

‘minimal’stress experiences: feeling well resourced to cope

and the absence of significant disruption to everyday life.

Conclusion: Findings highlight three targets in particular:

compounding stressors, family relationships, and gendered

differences in parental stress.

Implications: Intervention efforts should focus on better

resourcing parents experiencing accumulating stressors

through provision of individual and relational support

Author note: The Australian Temperament Project Generation 3 Study is located at The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne and is a

collaboration between Deakin University, The University of Melbourne, The Australian Institute of Family Studies, The University of

New South Wales, The University of Otago (NZ), La Trobe University, and the Royal Children’s Hospital; further information is

available at https://www.melbournechildrens.com/atp/. The authors declare there are no conflicts of interest.

Received: 29 April 2022Revised: 18 January 2023Accepted: 21 January 2023

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12867

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and

reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2023 The Authors. Family Relations published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of National Council on Family Relations.

Family Relations. 2023;72:1511–1531. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare 1511

and by addressing the higher burden experienced by

mothers compared with fathers across pandemic related

lockdowns.

KEYWORDS

COVID-19, descriptive phenomenology, lived experience, mixed

methods, parenting, stress

INTRODUCTION

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has caused significant harm to the physical and psy-

chological health of individuals and families across the globe (Gadermann et al., 2021; Khan

et al., 2022; Mansfield et al., 2021). Australia’s first case of COVID-19 was confirmed on

January 19, 2020, and with the threat of its virulent spread, the government enforced stringent

public health measures throughout the country, consistently implemented at a high level

throughout 2020 and 2021. In the state of Victoria, Australia, COVID-19 lockdowns were

among the most stringent in the world (Blakely et al., 2021; Boroujeni et al., 2021). At the

height of Australian COVID-19–related disruptions, public health restrictions permitted indi-

viduals to leave their home for only four essential reasons: (a) shopping for essential goods or

services, (b) essential work or study, (c) seeking or providing care, and (d) exercise within strict

1hour per day limitations (Department of Health and Human Services, 2020). This sudden

level of domestic confinement created new challenges for families, disproportionately burdening

parents caring for young, dependent children (Elder & Greene, 2021). Mandatory lockdown

restrictions upended family life, causing profound disruption to daily living, and significantly

impacting childcare and working arrangements, amidst loss of the usual protective buffers of

social and community support (Mikocka-Walus et al., 2021; Westrupp et al., 2021).

Through this unprecedented period, many parents experienced new challenges and elevated

levels of pressure as they quickly assumed multiple novel role identities across domestic and work-

place settings (Liu et al., 2021). This shift engendered new dimensions of parenting experiences for

many Australians, with attendant increased risk for adverse family outcomes (Dubois-Comtois

et al., 2021). Despite a growing body of Australian and international evidence attesting to the

impact of the pandemic on mental health and family functioning (Dawel et al., 2020;Prati&

Mancini, 2021; Toran et al., 2021; Vindegaard & Benros, 2020; Westrupp et al., 2021), as yet little

is known about the lived experience of parenting young children throughout the continuing

COVID-19 context. To that end, we set out to document the individual, interpersonal, and contex-

tual constituents associated with lived experiences of parent stress during pandemic lockdown con-

ditions, with the aim of informing early detection of risk, and prevention and intervention efforts.

COVID-19–related impact on parent mental health

Parental in-person care of children dramatically increased as a result of globally imposed

COVID-19 quarantine conditions, bringing both the opportunity for relationship growth and

also the possibility of increased parent stress, anxiety, and frustration (Calarco et al., 2020).

Parents caring for young children appeared to be an especially vulnerable group, with research

in the United States reporting significantly higher rates of intense worry, anxiety, and depres-

sion in parents of dependent children, relative to nonparents (Cox & Abrams, 2020; Elder &

Greene, 2021). Parents experiencing exacerbated levels of stress reported concerns for familial

health and safety, financial resources, stability of employment, and future certainty (Kerr

et al., 2021). Similarly, in a large cohort (>1,000) of Canadian mothers, comparisons of pre-

1512 FAMILY RELATIONS