ArticleBMC public health2023
Psychosocial work stress and parent-child bonding during the COVID-19 pandemic: clarifying the role of parental symptoms of depression and aggressiveness.
Article in BMC public health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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12 citing papers in PubMed, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- Preconception Predictors of Next Generation Early Relational Health: A Living Review of Prospective Cohort Studies.Clinical child and family psychology review · 2026Review
- Parenthood and Mental Health Among University Populations in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Cross-Sectional study.Health science reports · 2026Article
- The Development of Quality Indicators to Assess Family Wellbeing Outcomes Following Engagement with Children's Mental Health Services in Ontario, Canada.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2025Article
- Prepartum working conditions predict mental health symptoms 14 months postpartum in first-time mothers and their partners - results of the prospective cohort study "DREAM".BMC public health · 2025Article
- Intervention strategies to prevent mental health problems and improve resilience in employed parents from conception until the child is 5 years of age: a scoping review.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- Article
- Investigation of Malocclusion and Associated Factors in Preschoolers: A Cross-Sectional Questionnaire Study.Epidemiologia (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic On Violence Against Children: A Narrative Review.Current psychiatry reports · 2023Review
- [Fathers and peripartum mental illness: the neglected parent?]Der Nervenarzt · 2023Review
- COVID-19 in the Asia Pacific: Impact on climate change, allergic diseases and One Health.Asia Pacific allergy · 2023Review
- Parental burnout, depression and emotional development of the preschoolers.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
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Abstract
backgroundParental work stress and impaired mental health seem to have intensified during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Both can have a negative impact on parent-child bonding: psychosocial work stress in the course of a spillover effect from work to family and symptoms of impaired mental health as part of a crossover effect from parent to child. This potentially affects the child's development in the long term.
methodThis cross-sectional study examined the relationship between psychosocial work stress and parent-child bonding during the early COVID-19 pandemic (May-June 2020). Symptoms of depression and aggressiveness were considered as mediators of this relationship. The sample consisted of employees in Eastern Germany (n = 380; 42.9% mothers, 57.1% fathers), aged 24-55 years, with children aged 0-36 months.
resultsIn the total sample, an association was only found after adjusting for potential confounders, indicating that higher psychosocial work stress is associated with weaker bonding between the parent and child (β = 0.148, p = .017, 95% CI [0.566, 5.614]). The separate analyses for mothers and fathers did not reveal a statistically significant relationship between psychosocial work stress and parent-child bonding. In the total sample, the higher the psychosocial work stress was, the higher were the parental symptoms of depression (β = 0.372, p < .001, 95% CI [3.417, 5.696]) and aggressiveness β = 0.254, p < .001, 95% CI [1.008, 3.208]). The mental health symptoms in turn were related to weaker parent-child bonding (symptoms of depression β = 0.320, p < .001, 95% CI [0.345, 0.749]; symptoms of aggressiveness β = 0.394, p < .001, 95% CI [0.697, 1.287]). The results furthermore suggested that parental mental health symptoms mediate the association between psychosocial work stress and parent-child bonding (symptoms of depression, ab = 2.491, 95% CI [1.472, 3.577] and of aggressiveness, ab = 2.091, 95% CI [1.147, 3.279]). The mediation effect was also found in the separate analyses for the mothers and fathers. DISCUSSION: The results of this study during the early COVID-19 pandemic in Germany highlight the importance of prevention as well as intervention measures in relation to psychosocial work stress that may play a debilitating role in the context of family relationships. In addition, the results suggest that both employers and employees should be made aware of the importance of psychosocial work stress, as it can have a negative impact on mental health, which in turn may have a major influence on family relationships.
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