Families And Children's Experiences (F.A.C.E.) of COVID-19 Study
Most people would agree that children challenge their parents. Yet, parents often meet that challenge with acceptance, warmth, responsiveness, and sensitivity. It is likely that supports and stressors in the environment contribute to these child-rearing behaviors. Typically, such features might include financial resources, spousal/partner relationships, parental mental health, daily parenting experiences, and social support. It may also be the case that child characteristics influence parental-child relationships and parenting practices, as different children evoke different interactions with their parents. These transactions between the external environment and family functioning have long been studied by developmental researchers.
During the past three decades, our lab has developed and tested a transactional developmental model whereby temperamental characteristics of young children (for example, the ability to regulate emotions) are reinforced and exacerbated by reciprocal interactions with their parents and peers. In this model, “setting conditions” (e.g., employment status of parents; stressful life events; mental health status of parents; availability of social support for parents) describe patterns of risk and resilience in the environment which set the stage for, and have cascading influences on, parent-child and child-peer relationships.
The COVID-19 pandemic. We began to explore the impact of COVID-related lifestyle changes on children and families over the course of six consecutive months at the outbreak of the pandemic. We examined contextual features that were most effective in helping parents and children cope with the crisis. For example, we looked at how factors such as children’s emotion regulation and parents’ social support were related to parents’ and children’s well-being, and how these associations changed as the COVID-19 response changed over time.
Unquestionably, the COVID-19 crisis had an economic, physical, and psychological effect on families. And it is likely that these effects varied from family-to-family, from one region within North America to another, and from one country to another. Thus, to examine the effects of the pandemic on family, parent, and child functioning, we recruited 100-150 families in each of several cross-national and international sites. Focal children in these families ranged in age from 3.5 to 7 years old.
Parents of school-aged children were assessed in a baseline set of questionnaires measuring COVID-related stress, parental well-being, daily stressors, the availability of social support, parenting behaviors, and children’s emotional and behavioral regulation. In order to examine the ongoing processes of risk and resilience, follow-up data were collected on these constructs monthly for six consecutive months. Initial results of the study were presented at the 2024 biennial meeting of the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development.
The Research Team
We brought together an international team to accomplish the goals of our study. The International Consortium for the Study of Social and Emotional Development is being directed by Kenneth H. Rubin (University of Maryland). The co-Director is Nicholas Wagner (Boston University). The consortium builds on the exceptional expertise of scholars and practitioners in developmental and clinical psychology. Given its multidisciplinary composition, the consortium embraces a holistic perspective toward the promotion of well-being in early childhood, targeted at individual, family and society levels.
North American members include Drs. Julie Bowker (University at Buffalo, New York, USA), Nicholas Wagner (Boston University, Massachusetts, USA), Wonjung Oh (Texas Tech University, Texas, USA), Kristina McDonald (University of Alabama, Alabama, USA), and Leanna Closson (Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Canada).
International members include Drs. Manuela Verissimo, Antonio Santos, and Maryse Guedes (Institute of Applied Psychology [ISPA], Lisbon, Portugal); Drs. Alida LoCoco (University of Palermo, Italy), Gabrielle Coppola (University of Bari, Italy), and Francesca Liga (Universita' degli Studi di Messina, Messina, Italy; ; Dr. Hyoun K. Kim (Yonsei University, South Korea); Drs. Lixin Ren ( East China Normal University, Shanghai, China) and Rachel Han (Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China); Drs. Özge Metin Aslan (Alanya Alaaadin Keykubat University, Turkey) Menekşe Boz (Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey), and Drs. Mazneen Havewalla (University of Maryland) and Sudipta Roy (Psy Lens Centre, Surat, Gujarat, India).
During the past three decades, our lab has developed and tested a transactional developmental model whereby temperamental characteristics of young children (for example, the ability to regulate emotions) are reinforced and exacerbated by reciprocal interactions with their parents and peers. In this model, “setting conditions” (e.g., employment status of parents; stressful life events; mental health status of parents; availability of social support for parents) describe patterns of risk and resilience in the environment which set the stage for, and have cascading influences on, parent-child and child-peer relationships.
The COVID-19 pandemic. We began to explore the impact of COVID-related lifestyle changes on children and families over the course of six consecutive months at the outbreak of the pandemic. We examined contextual features that were most effective in helping parents and children cope with the crisis. For example, we looked at how factors such as children’s emotion regulation and parents’ social support were related to parents’ and children’s well-being, and how these associations changed as the COVID-19 response changed over time.
Unquestionably, the COVID-19 crisis had an economic, physical, and psychological effect on families. And it is likely that these effects varied from family-to-family, from one region within North America to another, and from one country to another. Thus, to examine the effects of the pandemic on family, parent, and child functioning, we recruited 100-150 families in each of several cross-national and international sites. Focal children in these families ranged in age from 3.5 to 7 years old.
Parents of school-aged children were assessed in a baseline set of questionnaires measuring COVID-related stress, parental well-being, daily stressors, the availability of social support, parenting behaviors, and children’s emotional and behavioral regulation. In order to examine the ongoing processes of risk and resilience, follow-up data were collected on these constructs monthly for six consecutive months. Initial results of the study were presented at the 2024 biennial meeting of the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development.
The Research Team
We brought together an international team to accomplish the goals of our study. The International Consortium for the Study of Social and Emotional Development is being directed by Kenneth H. Rubin (University of Maryland). The co-Director is Nicholas Wagner (Boston University). The consortium builds on the exceptional expertise of scholars and practitioners in developmental and clinical psychology. Given its multidisciplinary composition, the consortium embraces a holistic perspective toward the promotion of well-being in early childhood, targeted at individual, family and society levels.
North American members include Drs. Julie Bowker (University at Buffalo, New York, USA), Nicholas Wagner (Boston University, Massachusetts, USA), Wonjung Oh (Texas Tech University, Texas, USA), Kristina McDonald (University of Alabama, Alabama, USA), and Leanna Closson (Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Canada).
International members include Drs. Manuela Verissimo, Antonio Santos, and Maryse Guedes (Institute of Applied Psychology [ISPA], Lisbon, Portugal); Drs. Alida LoCoco (University of Palermo, Italy), Gabrielle Coppola (University of Bari, Italy), and Francesca Liga (Universita' degli Studi di Messina, Messina, Italy; ; Dr. Hyoun K. Kim (Yonsei University, South Korea); Drs. Lixin Ren ( East China Normal University, Shanghai, China) and Rachel Han (Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China); Drs. Özge Metin Aslan (Alanya Alaaadin Keykubat University, Turkey) Menekşe Boz (Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey), and Drs. Mazneen Havewalla (University of Maryland) and Sudipta Roy (Psy Lens Centre, Surat, Gujarat, India).
Recruitment flyers for our other sites!
