Parents and the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic and the accompanying restrictions are having a significant impact on parents lives. Stay-at-home orders, social distancing measures, closures of child care facilities and schools, working from home, and repeated lockdown and reopening phases place heavy demands on parents and multiply their responsibilities (e.g., meeting the familys economic needs, managing child care and workplace demands, developing new roles as teachers, organizing everyday family lives, adjusting daily routines and family norms, providing for their childrens safety and well-being, dealing with their childrens emotions and anxieties, or managing their own physical and emotional well-being). These added responsibilities may lead to task overload and increased stress. The qualitative longitudinal study Parents and the COVID-19 Pandemic offers in-depth insights into parents experiences with the pandemic over time. The study focuses on three main objectives: (1) providing an examination of parents experiences and resources during the COVID-19 pandemic; (2) identifying the main practices and strategies parents have developed in dealing with the coronavirus crisis and the accompanying restrictions over time; and (3) investigating parents perspectives on the short-, medium-, and long-term consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Austrian-wide study has a sample of 98 parents of kindergarten and school-aged children, and consists of two methodical strands (problem-centred telephone interviews, diary entries). Data collection started in the very first week of the first country-wide lockdown in March 2020 and has been continued since (weekly to bi-weekly contacts between March and June, further data collection waves in summer and autumn 2020, and in spring 2021). Ten waves of data collection have been completed, and at least two further waves are planned, covering a period of two years from the first lockdown until two years thereafter. Data will be analyzed using the Grounded Theory coding scheme. This study is based on an extraordinarily large and rich qualitative sample and provides an unparalleled opportunity to examine how parents are coping with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic over time. It will provide a comprehensive sociological analysis of how the pandemic affects parents and their families. This will allow to develop recommendations and support resources, to provide evidence-based information relevant for professionals, and to suggest strategies for minimizing negative effects on parents, children and families when similar crises arise in the future.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns and the closure of school and childcare facilities placed heavy demands on families and parents. What challenges did they face during the pandemic? What strategies did they develop, and what resources were available to them? To answer these questions, 98 parents of kindergarten and school-aged children were surveyed 12 times over a period of more than two years, from the beginning of the first lockdown in March 2020 until June 2022. Problem-centred telephone interviews were conducted with 65 parents (727 interviews in total), and 33 parents kept diaries (372 diary entries in total). The results show that parents and families experienced a state of permanent uncertainty during the pandemic and had to make enormous efforts to adapt to rapidly changing conditions. One of the greatest challenges for the respondents was providing stability for their children and families during this time. Over the course of the pandemic, parents observed and supported their children through its emotional, physical, social, and educational effects. They emphasised the negative consequences for their adolescent children, who were unable to take important developmental steps, such as becoming independent from their parents or having their first romantic experiences, due to lockdowns and other containment measures. In order to (re-)establish stability in family life and provide comprehensive support to their children, parents developed various strategies. These strategies helped parents to reconcile their personal, professional, and family needs in the face of rapidly changing conditions. Parents' use of strategies varied considerably depending on their socioeconomic characteristics, such as the number and age of children, the resources available, and the housing situation. During the pandemic, mothers prioritised the needs of others above their own, pushing themselves to their limits and beyond. The pandemic had a socially selective impact: the burdens were unevenly distributed, and not everyone experienced its effects in the same way. Single mothers and their families were particularly affected. Overall, the responding parents demonstrated considerable resilience in coping with the crisis. Despite difficult circumstances and increasing exhaustion, they adopted a resilient approach to the pandemic, effectively managing the organisation of daily family life, caring for their children, and meeting the demands of school and work. During the pandemic, parents and especially mothers, were the pivotal yet often invisible force. They made a substantial contribution to the functioning of society that has not yet been sufficiently recognised.