ArticleJournal of affective disorders2023
How the mental health of working parents in Australia changed during COVID-19: A pre- to during pandemic longitudinal comparison.
Article in Journal of affective disorders, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Parent Mental Health Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Child psychiatry and human development · 2025Article
- Disruption and inequity in work, family and mental health: a longitudinal study of Australian mothers before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.BMC public health · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
backgroundCross-sectional studies indicate that mental health has deteriorated in Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic, including for parents. However, robust longitudinal studies interrogating change from before to during the pandemic remain rare. The current study analysed data from Australian parents surveyed in 2016 and August 2020. We investigate whether distress was higher in the COVID-19 period compared to pre-pandemic levels, and whether any increases in distress were greatest for parents living in Victoria (who had entered their second prolonged lockdown).
methodsA community cohort of Australian working parents (n = 5197) was recruited online in 2016. In August 2020, 25.9 % (n = 1348) completed a follow-up survey. Analyses were restricted to those employed at both time-points (n = 1311). Random effects longitudinal models examined the association between time (i.e. pre vs. during-pandemic) and distress (K6 scale). Fixed effects models specifically tested change between time periods in association with change in distress. LIMITATIONS: The initial sample were recruited online with highly educate parents over-represented. Attrition between survey time-points may also limit generalisability.
resultsAll models consistently showed that the pandemic period was associated with greater distress. Overall, serious mental illness (i.e. K6 score ≥ 18) increased by 5.3 percentage points (from 8.0 to 13.3). This increase was greater (by 4.7 percentage points) for those parents in Victoria.
conclusionsThis study is one of few to longitudinally assess mental health pre- to during the pandemic. Psychological distress and serious mental illness increased for Australian working parents, and this effect was greatest for those experiencing a prolonged lockdown in Victoria.
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