Abstract:
The COVID-19 lockdown has forced young children to spend more time on media and significantly impacted their mothers\' mental health. This study explored how mothers\' individual distress influences children\'s problematic media use during the Shanghai citywide lockdown caused by COVID-19. Data were collected from 1889 Chinese mothers (Mage = 34.69 years, SD = 3.94 years) with preschoolers aged 3-6 years (Mage = 4.38 years, SD = 1.06 years; 49.0% boys) via an online survey. The statistical analyses relied on SPSS Statistics version 26.0 and macro-program PROCESS 3.3. to investigate the associations and mediation analysis among all the study variables. The results indicated a positive association between maternal distress and children\'s problematic media use, mediated by parenting stress and maladaptive parenting. Specifically, the serial mediation analysis revealed that high levels of maternal distress exacerbate parenting stress, which in turn leads to maladaptive parenting practices. These maladaptive practices subsequently increase problematic media use in preschool children. The findings highlighted that parents need to enhance their ability to manage risk and promote mental health during periods of significant stress and routine disruption to reduce children\'s problematic media use.
摘要:
COVID-19的封锁迫使年幼的孩子花更多的时间在媒体上,并显著影响了他们母亲的心理健康。这项研究探讨了在COVID-19引起的上海全市封锁期间,母亲的个体痛苦如何影响儿童的有问题的媒体使用。数据来自1889名中国母亲(Mage=34.69岁,SD=3.94岁),3-6岁的学龄前儿童(Mage=4.38岁,SD=1.06岁;49.0%的男孩)通过在线调查。统计分析依赖于SPSS统计26.0版和宏程序PROCESS3.3。调查所有研究变量之间的关联和中介分析。结果表明,产妇困扰与儿童有问题的媒体使用之间存在正相关关系,由育儿压力和适应不良的育儿介导。具体来说,连续调解分析显示,高水平的产妇痛苦加剧了育儿压力,这反过来又导致了不良的育儿习惯。这些适应不良的做法随后增加了学龄前儿童使用有问题的媒体。调查结果强调,父母需要提高他们的能力,以管理风险和促进心理健康在显著的压力和日常中断期间,以减少儿童的问题媒体使用。