Subjective wellbeing of autistic adolescents and young adults: A cross sectional study.

Subjective wellbeing (SWB) represents an individual's perception of wellness that is supported by homeostatic mechanisms. These mechanisms are proposed to be maintained by low negative affect and high positive affect, although less is known about these mechanisms and SWB in autism. The current cross-sectional study aimed to compare patterns of positive affect, negative affect (Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale), and SWB (Personal Wellbeing Index-School Children) between autistic (n = 53) and non-autistic (n = 49) individuals aged 10-22 years (Mage = 13.97, SD = 3.13). Between-group t-tests revealed that compared with same-age peers, autistic participants scored lower SWB overall (p < 0.001). In both groups average SWB scores fell into the higher range, however, autistic participants were three-times more likely to fall below this range when compared to non-autistic participants. Negative affect had a higher intercept in the autistic sample, but no difference in slopes were observed. A hierarchical multiple regression revealed that diagnosis, positive affect, and negative affect significantly predicted SWB in our sample. Between-group t-tests found no significant difference in positive affect or negative affect across age between the autistic and non-autistic samples. In autistic participants, positive affect increased across age as SWB decreased, whilst negative affect remained stable, a pattern inconsistent with homeostatic SWB. The current study is overall consistent with the homeostatic explanation for SWB within autism; however, we identified potential differences between autistic and non-autistic participants in the contribution of positive affect and negative affect to homeostatic protect mood across development.

Predicting the Trajectories of Parents' Relationship Well-Being During COVID-19 Lockdowns and Beyond: a Vulnerability, Stress and Adaptation Model Perspective.

Strict lockdowns have been employed by many of the world's nations as a public health response to COVID-19. However, concerns have been expressed as to how such public health responses disturb the human ecosystem. In this paper, we report on findings from a longitudinal study of Australian parents in which we investigated how state differences in government-mandated lockdowns affect the relationship well-being (i.e., relationship satisfaction and loneliness) of parents. We situated the study of the relational effects of strict lockdowns within the Vulnerability Stress Adaptation Model (VSAM, Karney & Bradbury, 1995) that considers the role of parents' pre-existing vulnerabilities (i.e., psychological distress and attachment insecurity), life stressors (pre-pandemic and COVID-19 stressors), and adaptive relationship processes (constructive communication and perceived partner support). A total of 1942 parents completed 14 waves of assessments of relationship satisfaction and loneliness over a 13.5-month period as well as baseline assessments of personal vulnerabilities, life stressors, and adaptive relationship processes. Parents with high relationship adaptations and low vulnerabilities evidenced the highest relationship well-being (i.e., high satisfaction and low loneliness) during changes in lockdown restrictions, while parents with moderate relationship adaptations and vulnerabilities experienced the poorest well-being. Differences in state lockdown restrictions (i.e., Victoria [long and strict lockdown policy] vs all other states) were associated with differences in relationship well-being for parents with high relationship adaptations. Specifically, Victorian parents experienced significant declines in relationship well-being compared to non-Victorian parents. Our findings provide novel insights into how government-mandated social restrictions can disrupt the relational ecology of parents.

Physical activity intervention improves executive function and language development during early childhood: The active early learning cluster randomized controlled trial.

This study aimed to determine the effects of the Active Early Learning (AEL) childcare center-based physical activity intervention on early childhood executive function and expressive vocabulary via a randomized controlled trial. Three-hundred-and-fourteen preschool children (134 girls) aged 3-5 years from 15 childcare centers were randomly assigned to the intervention (8 centers; n = 170 children) or control group (7 centers, n = 144 children) in May 2019. Participants were mostly Australian (85%) and from slightly higher areas of socio-economic status than the Australian average. There was an AEL intervention effect on inhibition (ß = 0.5, p = .033, d = 0.29) and expressive vocabulary (ß = 1.97, p = .001, d = 0.24). Integration of the AEL physical activity intervention into the daily childcare routine was effective in enhancing children's executive function and expressive language development.

Profiles of parents' emotion socialization within a multinational sample of parents.

Introduction: Seminal emotion socialization theories classify parents according to two patterns of parent emotion socialization processes: 'emotion coaching' (i.e., parents validate and teach children about emotions) versus 'emotion dismissing' parenting (i.e., parents minimize and dismiss their children's emotions). However, empirical evidence supporting this binary distinction of parents remains limited. Our objective was to investigate whether parents can be differentiated by distinct patterns in their (1) beliefs about children's emotions, (2) emotion regulation, and (3) emotion-related parenting practices. Method: Participants were parents of children aged 4-10 years from the Child and Parent Emotion Study (N = 869) (https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/10/e038124). Parents completed self-reported measures of emotion socialization processes via an online survey, which took 20-30 min to complete. Data included in the current study were collected May-August 2019. We conducted a latent profile analysis of parents' emotion socialization (13 indicators). To assess reliability of the profiles, we examined stability of the profiles across (1) parents of children in early versus middle childhood, and (2) fathers versus mothers, via measurement invariance testing. Further, to assess for construct validity of the profiles, we examined concurrent associations between six criterion constructs and parents' emotion socialization profiles. Results: A three-profile model emerged characterizing parents by: (1) emotion coaching; (2) emotion dismissing; (3) emotion disengaged. There was strong support for construct validity and reliability. Discussion: Our study provides empirical support for distinct differentiated classifications of emotion coaching and emotion dismissing parenting, aligned with emotion socialization theories. We further extend on extant theory and suggest a third 'emotion disengaged' classification, describing parents with moderate levels of emotion dismissing parenting and low levels of emotion coaching parenting. It should be noted that the profiles were derived with self-report data, therefore, data may have been biased by contextual factors. Furthermore, the study sample consisted of Western families from affluent backgrounds. The field should focus efforts on conducting person-centered studies with more diverse samples in future.

Social and emotional determinants of parental reflective functioning in a multinational sample.

Parental reflective functioning refers to parents' capacity to consider their child's internal experiences and is associated with secure parent-child attachment, sensitive parenting behavior, and positive child socioemotional development. However, research into determinants of parental reflective functioning in large diverse samples has been scarce. Therefore, using a large multinational sample and longitudinal design, we aimed to: (a) identify sociodemographic determinants of parental reflective functioning; (b) investigate whether parental emotion regulation is a psychological determinant of parental reflective functioning; and (c) assess whether child negative affect, parent stress, and child age moderate longitudinal associations between parent emotion regulation and parental reflective functioning. Data were two time points of the Child and Parent Emotion Study following 2,208 parents (68% female) of a child aged 0-10 years residing in English-speaking countries. Parent emotion dysregulation, parent male cisgender status, speaking a language other than English, younger parent age, and older child age were associated with lower parental reflective functioning 12 months later, as indicated by higher levels of prementalizing. Child negative affect moderated the association between parent emotion dysregulation and parental reflective functioning, whereas child age and parent stress did not. Specifically, parent difficulty controlling impulses when distressed was associated with higher levels of prementalizing modes of reflective functioning only when child negative affect was moderate-to-high. The interplay between parent emotion dysregulation and child negative affect highlights the importance of considering both parent and child characteristics in intervention planning and suggests that personalizing parenting support according to these characteristics may be beneficial. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Longitudinal Associations Between COVID-19 Stress and the Mental Health of Children With ADHD.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the longitudinal associations between COVID-19 induced stress (related to COVID-19 restrictions/changes), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, oppositional symptoms, and mental health outcomes (negative affect, anxiety, depression, and irritability) in children with ADHD during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHOD: Parents of 140 Australian children with ADHD (aged 5-17 years) completed an online survey in May 2020 during stay-at-home restrictions and 12-months later. RESULTS: Baseline COVID-19 stress was associated with increased total ADHD symptom severity (ß = .21, p = .007) and hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms (ß = .23, p = .002) at 12-months, after accounting for covariates (i.e., child age, gender, ADHD medication, socio-economic status, and baseline symptoms). Despite some indication of associations between baseline COVID-19 stress and 12-month oppositional symptoms and negative affect, these were attenuated when adjusting for baseline symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The study provides initial evidence of the medium-term impacts of pandemic-related stress for children with ADHD.

It's gone, it's back: A prospective study on the COVID-19 pandemic-related shortages and mental health of Australian families.

Our aim was to explore the association between COVID-19 pandemic-related product shortages and symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression in Australian families, concurrently and longitudinally, while controlling for demographic, health, and psychological characteristics. This prospective study used two waves of data (baseline, Time 0 = April 2020; Time 1 = May 2020) from a longitudinal cohort study of Australian parents of a child aged 0-18 years. Parents were surveyed at baseline about whether they had experienced product shortages related to COVID-19. DASS21 was used to measure symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress at both waves. The sample included 2,110 participants (N = 1,701, 80.6% mothers). About 68.6% of the respondents reported being impacted by one or more shortages. Product shortages correlated significantly with higher combined and individual scores for anxiety, depression, and stress (r = 0.007 to 0.18, all p < 0.001) at baseline. At Time 1, parental emotion regulation explained 4.0% of the variance (p < .001). Our findings suggest a role for improving parental emotion regulation in coping with stressors, such as shortages and lockdowns.

Creation of a Short-Form and Brief Short-Form Version of the Coping With Children's Negative Emotions Scale.

The Coping with Children's Negative Emotions Scale (CCNES) is a widely used measure of parent emotion socialization; however, it is a lengthy measure and it is unclear whether all items are appropriately aligned with, and fully capture, the underlying constructs. We aimed to examine content validity of the CCNES, evaluate the theoretical alignment between the CCNES and Gottman, Katz and Hooven's meta-emotion theory, and develop two short-forms. Participants were parents of children aged 4 to 10 years (N = 937) from the longitudinal study the Child and Parent Emotion Study (https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/10/e038124). Content experts qualitatively evaluated parent-report items of the CCNES and additional items that measured empathy. Nineteen of the 84 items were found to not align with the meta-emotion theory. The latent structures of the CCNES and empathy subscales were quantitatively evaluated via confirmatory factor analysis. Items with poor psychometric properties were subsequently removed. An 18-item short-form (three emotion coaching subscales, three emotion dismissing subscales) and 6-item brief short-form (one emotion coaching subscale, one emotion dismissing subscale) with strong psychometric properties were created using a calibration sample (n = 468, that is, 50% of N = 937) and cross-validated with a validation sample. The short-form CCNES measures provide viable, theoretically consistent alternatives to the original CCNES measure.

Associations Between Anxiety and Home Learning Difficulties in Children and Adolescents with ADHD During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has markedly impacted functioning for children and adolescents including those with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We explored home learning difficulties (HLD) during COVID-19 restrictions in Australian children (aged 5-17) with ADHD, aiming to: (1) describe home learning experiences, and (2) examine associations between child anxiety (i.e., concurrent anxiety symptoms and pre-existing anxiety disorder status) and HLD. Baseline data from the longitudinal ADHD COVID-19 Survey were used (n = 122). Parents reported on school factors and HLD; pre-existing anxiety and co-occurring difficulties; anxiety, ADHD, and oppositional symptoms; demographics; and medications. Parents retrospectively reported more children often looked forward to school pre-pandemic, than during the pandemic. Anxiety symptoms, but not pre-existing anxiety disorder status, were associated with HLD after accounting for covariates. ADHD inattention symptoms were also associated with HLD. Results support recommendations to continue pre-pandemic supports to assist with ADHD symptoms during home learning, and strategies/supports for families are discussed.

Examining Analytic Practices in Latent Dirichlet Allocation Within Psychological Science: Scoping Review.

BACKGROUND: Topic modeling approaches allow researchers to analyze and represent written texts. One of the commonly used approaches in psychology is latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA), which is used for rapidly synthesizing patterns of text within "big data," but outputs can be sensitive to decisions made during the analytic pipeline and may not be suitable for certain scenarios such as short texts, and we highlight resources for alternative approaches. This review focuses on the complex analytical practices specific to LDA, which existing practical guides for training LDA models have not addressed. OBJECTIVE: This scoping review used key analytical steps (data selection, data preprocessing, and data analysis) as a framework to understand the methodological approaches being used in psychology research using LDA. METHODS: A total of 4 psychology and health databases were searched. Studies were included if they used LDA to analyze written words and focused on a psychological construct or issue. The data charting processes were constructed and employed based on common data selection, preprocessing, and data analysis steps. RESULTS: A total of 68 studies were included. These studies explored a range of research areas and mostly sourced their data from social media platforms. Although some studies reported on preprocessing and data analysis steps taken, most studies did not provide sufficient detail for reproducibility. Furthermore, the debate surrounding the necessity of certain preprocessing and data analysis steps is revealed. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings highlight the growing use of LDA in psychological science. However, there is a need to improve analytical reporting standards and identify comprehensive and evidence-based best practice recommendations. To work toward this, we developed an LDA Preferred Reporting Checklist that will allow for consistent documentation of LDA analytic decisions and reproducible research outcomes.

Text mining of Reddit posts: Using latent Dirichlet allocation to identify common parenting issues.

Parenting interventions offer an evidence-based method for the prevention and early intervention of child mental health problems, but to-date their population-level effectiveness has been limited by poor reach and engagement, particularly for fathers, working mothers, and disadvantaged families. Tailoring intervention content to parents' context offers the potential to enhance parent engagement and learning by increasing relevance of content to parents' daily experiences. However, this approach requires a detailed understanding of the common parenting situations and issues that parents face day-to-day, which is currently lacking. We sought to identify the most common parenting situations discussed by parents on parenting-specific forums of the free online discussion forum, Reddit. We aimed to understand perspectives from both mothers and fathers, and thus retrieved publicly available data from r/Daddit and r/Mommit. We used latent Dirichlet allocation to identify the 10 most common topics discussed in the Reddit posts, and completed a manual text analysis to summarize the parenting situations (defined as involving a parent and their child aged 0-18 years, and describing a potential/actual issue). We retrieved 340 (r/Daddit) and 578 (r/Mommit) original posts. A model with 31 latent Dirichlet allocation topics was best fitting, and 24 topics included posts that met our inclusion criteria for manual review. We identified 45 unique but broadly defined parenting situations. The majority of parenting situations were focused on basic childcare situations relating to eating, sleeping, routines, sickness, and toilet training; or related to how to respond to child negative emotions or difficult behavior. Most situations were discussed in relation to infant or toddler aged children, and there was high consistency in the themes raised in r/Daddit and r/Mommit. Our results offer potential to tailor parenting interventions in a meaningful way, creating opportunities to develop content and resources that are directly relevant to parents' lived experiences.

Developing Preschool Language Surveillance Models - Cumulative and Clustering Patterns of Early Life Factors in the Early Language in Victoria Study Cohort.

BACKGROUND: Screening and surveillance of development are integral to ensuring effective early identification and intervention strategies for children with vulnerabilities. However, not all developmental skills have reliable screening processes, such as early language ability. METHOD: We describe how a set of early life factors used in a large, prospective community cohort from Australia are associated with language abilities across the preschool years, and determine if either an accumulation of risk factors or a clustering of risk factors provide a feasible approach to surveillance of language development in preschool children. RESULTS: There were 1,208 children with a 7-year language outcome. The accumulation of early life factors increased the likelihood of children having low language skills at 7-years. Over a third of children with typical language skills (36.6%) had ≤ two risks and half of the children with low language (50%) had six or more risks. As the number of factors increases the risk of having low language at 7-years increases, for example, children with six or more risks had 17 times greater risk, compared to those with ≤ two risks. Data collected from 1,910 children at 8- to 12-months were used in the latent class modeling. Four profile classes (or groups) were identified. The largest group was developmentally enabled with a supportive home learning environment (56.2%, n = 1,073). The second group was vulnerable, both developmentally and in their home learning environment (31.2%, n = 596); the third group was socially disadvantaged with a vulnerable home learning environment (7.4%, n = 142); the final group featured maternal mental health problems and vulnerable child socio-emotional adjustment (5.2%, n = 99). Compared to developmentally enabled children, the risk of low language at 7-years was greater for children in the three other groups. CONCLUSION: The cumulative and cluster risk analyses demonstrate the potential to use developmental surveillance to identify children within the first years of life who are at risk of language difficulties. Importantly, parent-child interaction and the home learning environment emerged as a consistent cluster. We recommend they be adopted as the common focus for early intervention and universal language promotion programs.

Physical Health, Media Use, and Mental Health in Children and Adolescents With ADHD During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Australia.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the impact of COVID-19 restrictions among children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). METHODS: Parents of 213 Australian children (5-17 years) with ADHD completed a survey in May 2020 when COVID-19 restrictions were in place (i.e., requiring citizens to stay at home except for essential reasons). RESULTS: Compared to pre-pandemic, children had less exercise (Odds Ratio (OR) = 0.4; 95% CI 0.3-0.6), less outdoor time (OR = 0.4; 95% 0.3-0.6), and less enjoyment in activities (OR = 6.5; 95% CI 4.0-10.4), while television (OR = 4.0; 95% CI 2.5-6.5), social media (OR = 2.4; 95% CI 1.3-4.5), gaming (OR = 2.0; 95% CI 1.3-3.0), sad/depressed mood (OR = 1.8; 95% CI 1.2-2.8), and loneliness (OR = 3.6; 95% CI 2.3-5.5) were increased. Child stress about COVID-19 restrictions was associated with poorer functioning across most domains. Most parents (64%) reported positive changes for their child including more family time. CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 restrictions were associated with both negative and positive impacts among children with ADHD.

Parent and child mental health trajectories April 2020 to May 2021: Strict lockdown versus no lockdown in Australia.

OBJECTIVE: To control a second-wave COVID-19 outbreak, the state of Victoria in Australia experienced one of the world's first long and strict lockdowns over July-October 2020, while the rest of Australia experienced 'COVID-normal' with minimal restrictions. We (1) investigate trajectories of parent/child mental health outcomes in Victoria vs non-Victoria and (2) identify baseline demographic, individual and COVID-19-related factors associated with mental health trajectories. METHODS: Online community sample of 2004 Australian parents with rapid repeated assessment over 14 time-points over April 2020 to May 2021. Measures assessed parent mental health (Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales-21), child depression symptoms (13-item Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire) and child anxiety symptoms (four items from Brief Spence Children's Anxiety Scale). RESULTS: Mental health trajectories shadowed COVID-19 infection rates. Victorians reported a peak in mental health symptoms at the time of the second-wave lockdown compared to other states. Key baseline predictors, including parent and child loneliness (standardized regression coefficient [ß] = 0.09-0.46), parent/child diagnoses (ß = 0.07-0.21), couple conflict (ß = 0.07-0.18) and COVID-19 stressors, such as worry/concern about COVID-19, illness and loss of job (ß = 0.12-0.15), predicted elevated trajectories. Effects of predictors on parent and child mental health trajectories are illustrated in an online interactive app for readers (https://lingtax.shinyapps.io/CPAS_trend/). CONCLUSION: Our findings provide evidence of worse trajectories of parent and child mental health symptoms at a time coinciding with a second COVID-19 outbreak involving strict lockdown in Victoria, compared to non-locked states in Australia. We identified several baseline factors that may be useful in detecting high-risk families who are likely to require additional support early on in future lockdowns.

Monitoring Australian parents' shifting receptiveness to digital mental health interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Nascent evidence indicates that the mental health of parents and children has markedly declined during the COVID-19 pandemic. Considering disruptions to traditional face-to-face mental health services resultant from stay-at-home orders, the potential value of digital mental health interventions has become extremely apparent. Despite this, uptake of digital interventions remains poor, indicating that a better understanding is needed of factors that determine a willingness to use digital platforms. METHOD: The present multi-wave, longitudinal study of 2365 Australian parents explored between-person and within-person predictors of intentions to use digital interventions during the pandemic. RESULTS: More than one-third of parents reported likely use of a self-guided and therapist-guided digital intervention, with the most endorsed reason for use being to support their child's mental health. Between-person baseline predictors of higher intention ratings were parent's prior mental illness, not living with a partner and recent environmental stressors. Within-person predictors of higher intention ratings were endorsement of mindful parenting strategies, child access to the Internet, better perceived management of child's education, lower social support and financial hardship. CONCLUSION: Findings demonstrate that willingness to engage in digital interventions fluctuates in response to changing circumstances. Identifying novel ways to increase acceptance and uptake of digital interventions based on modifiable predictors established here is needed to realize the full potential of these modes of care in times of need.

Developmental gains and losses during parenthood.

The onset of parenthood irrevocably changes the landscape of adults' functioning, amplifying the potential for parents' experiences of both developmental losses and gains/growth, in context of increased responsibilities and more limited access to environmental resources/supports. In this article, we draw on dual theoretical lenses to integrate the frameworks of Baltes' lifespan development theory of gains and loss and Bronfenbrenner's bioecological model. We summarize empirical evidence in relation to a normative transition, exemplified by the transition to parenthood, and a non-normative event, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and show that parents' experiences of developmental loss and gains/growth are inextricably linked. Our findings illustrate how parents' losses/gains are influenced by a broad range of individual and environmental factors, with implications for parent prevention/intervention programs.

Mental distress of parents with chronic diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia: A prospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: To-date there has been limited examination of the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic in parents who suffer from chronic physical conditions. We aimed to 1) examine whether presence of a chronic disease predicts differential latent distress profile memberships, and 2) assess factors that could predict different distress profiles in the sub-group of parents with a chronic disease. METHODS: We used a sample of 1618 parents, from the longitudinal COVID-19 Pandemic Adjustment Study, who completed a measure of mental distress (Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale) at 13 data collection points. Distress profiles were assessed with the latent profile analysis. RESULTS: We identified four distinct mental distress profile memberships, with the most common membership characterised by very low (48.1%), followed by low (31.9%), moderate (15.7%), and high (4.3%) distress scores. A higher proportion of parents with chronic diseases belonged to profiles experiencing low (34.7% vs. 30.4%), moderate (18.7% vs. 14.1%), and high (5.5% vs. 3.7%) compared to very low (41.2% vs. 51.8%) distress levels than other parents. Residing in Victoria, younger age, lower levels of social support and appraisal of COVID as risk were associated with membership to higher compared to very low distress profiles. CONCLUSION: Our findings highlight the importance of considering chronic disease co-morbidity as an additive risk factor in addressing mental health outcomes of parents during pandemic-like events, since parents with chronic conditions are more vulnerable to experiencing worse mental distress. Future interventions should focus on ways to strengthen social support and provide guidance for managing threat appraisal.

Strategies to Increase Uptake of Parent Education Programs in Preschool and School Settings to Improve Child Outcomes: A Delphi Study.

Parent education programs, offered via family-school partnerships, offer an effective means for promoting the mental health and educational functioning of children and adolescents at a whole-school level. However, these programs often have a low uptake. This study aimed to identify strategies for increasing the uptake of parent education programs within preschool and school settings. A three-round Delphi procedure was employed to obtain expert consensus on strategies that are important and feasible in educational settings. First, thirty experts rated statements identified from the literature and a stakeholder forum. Next, experts re-appraised statements, including new statements generated from the first round. Ninety statements were endorsed by ≥80% of the experts. Primary themes include strategies for program selection; strategies for increasing the accessibility of programs and the understanding of educational staff on parent engagement and child mental health; strategies for program development, promotion and delivery; as well as strategies for increasing parent and community engagement. This study offers a set of consensus strategies for improving the uptake of parent education programs within family-school partnership.

Finding the power within and without: How can we strengthen resilience against symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression in Australian parents during the COVID-19 pandemic?

OBJECTIVE: The present study investigated the association between resilience and indicators of mental health in a large sample of Australian parents at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Data were from a large longitudinal cohort study of Australian parents of a child aged 0-18 years collected during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) was used to measure resilience, the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) measured distress (i.e., composite of stress, anxiety and depression scales). Other factors assessed included: age, gender, being born overseas, number of children, self-assessed introversion, social, educational and economic variables, family resources, positive affect and emotional regulation, external social support, and partner social support. Hierarchical regression models and a moderation analysis were used to assess the aims. RESULTS: Of 2110 parents, 1701 (80.6%) were female. The mean age was 38 years old (SD = 7, range = 19-69). High loneliness was a key contributor to distress. The level of social support received did add significantly to distress, with greater assistance associated with lower stress and anxiety (both p < .01). Partner support significantly moderated the relationship between resilience and depression; however, this relationship is of unlikely clinical significance due to its small statistical effect. CONCLUSION: Interventions targeting resilience against distress and mental health of parents at the time of pandemics should focus on reducing loneliness while working with the constraints of imposed social isolation and might include partners. Qualitative studies are needed to understand the various useful and not useful aspects of partner's support.

Subjective wellbeing in parents during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.

OBJECTIVES: To examine (1) the subjective wellbeing of Australian parents raising children and adolescents (0-18 years) during April 2020 'stage three' COVID-19 restrictions, in comparison with parents assessed over 18-years prior to the pandemic; and (2) socio-demographic and COVID-19 predictors of subjective wellbeing during the pandemic. METHODS: Cross-sectional data were from the COVID-19 Pandemic Adjustment Survey (CPAS, N = 2365 parents of a child 0-18 years, 8-28th April 2020); and a pre-pandemic national database containing 18 years of annual surveys collected in 2002-2019 (N = 17,529 parents). RESULTS: Levels of subjective wellbeing during the pandemic were considerably lower than ratings prior to the pandemic (Personal Wellbeing Index, mean[SD] = 65.3 [17.0]; compared to [SD] = 75.8 [11.9], p < 0.001). During the pandemic, lower subjective wellbeing was associated with low education (adjusted regression coefficient, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] = -5.19, -0.93), language other-than-English (95% CI = -7.22, -1.30), government benefit (95% CI = -6.99, -0.96), single parents (95% CI = -8.84, -4.59), child neurodevelopmental condition (95% CI = -3.44, -0.76), parent physical/mental health problems (95% CI = -3.23, -0.67), COVID-environmental stressors (95% CI = -3.48, -2.44), and fear/worry about COVID-19 (95% CI = -8.13, -5.96). Unexpectedly, parent engagement with news media about the pandemic was associated with higher subjective wellbeing (95% CI = 0.35, 1.61). CONCLUSION: Subjective wellbeing in parents raising children aged 0-18 years appears to be disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions in Australia. Specific at-risk groups, for which government intervention may be warranted, include parents in socially disadvantaged contexts, parents with pre-existing mental health difficulties, and parents facing significant COVID-19-related work changes.