Coping strategies and psychological distress among mothers during COVID-19 pandemic: The moderating role of social support.

The Indonesian government implemented a large-scale social restriction policy as part of the efforts to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. This policy impacted the population, including mothers, and caused considerable psychological distress. Individual efforts to cope (avoidant and approach coping strategies) and support from significant persons might help handle the distress experienced by mothers. The purpose of this empirical study is to investigate the effect of individual coping strategies on psychological distress and the moderating role of social support among Indonesian mothers. An online survey was administered from 20th to 25th April 2020 to 1534 Indonesian mothers (Mean age 37.12 years; SD 6.63). Brief COPE (28 items), Depression Anxiety Stress Scale/DASS (18 items), and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support/MSPSS (12 items) were used to measure coping strategies, psychological distress, and social support, respectively. IBM SPSS 24 software was used to analyze the data. The result showed that moderate and high levels of social support moderated the relationship between approach coping strategies and psychological distress (B = .041, CI .007-.075). When the mother uses approach coping, her psychological distress will decrease further whenever she receives moderate and high level social support. Any level of social support moderated the relationship between avoidant coping and psychological distress (B = -.100, CI -.138-.061). When mother used avoidant coping, her social support at any level served as buffer to her psychological distress. It can be concluded that mothers need to prioritize implementing approach coping strategies to lower their distress. Those who practiced avoidant coping strategies needed social support from their significant persons to decrease their distress.

Relationship Between Numeracy and Vocabulary Skills in Indonesian Preschool Children and the Impacts of Learning Environments.

Although many studies on early childhood have been conducted, there is still a need for further research on numeracy and vocabulary skills, particularly in Indonesia. This research aims to confirm the correlation between numeracy and vocabulary skills in preschool children and to disentangle the effects of environmental factors on both numeracy and vocabulary skills. This research was conducted at Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in the Jatinangor district and followed the principle of simple random sampling. Children were given numeracy and vocabulary tests, parents were asked to fill out a questionnaire about sociodemographic aspects and the learning environment in their homes, and teachers were asked to fill out a questionnaire about preschool activities concerning numeracy and vocabulary. Data were analyzed using a structural equation model with numeracy and vocabulary as outcome variables. Covariates such as age, gender and social status were also included in the model. The results of this study show that numeracy is closely linked to vocabulary skills and that only a specific preschool activity can explain the variance of numeracy. On the other hand, both home numeracy activities and a specific preschool literacy activity are significant predictors of vocabulary skills.

Bien que de nombreuses études sur la petite enfance aient été menées, des recherches supplémentaires sur les compétences en calcul et en vocabulaire sont encore nécessaires, en particulier en Indonésie. Cette recherche vise à confirmer la corrélation entre les compétences en numératie et en vocabulaire chez les enfants d'âge préscolaire et à démêler les effets des facteurs environnementaux sur les compétences en numératie et en vocabulaire. Cette recherche a été menée à Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) dans le district de Jatinangor et a suivi le principe de l'échantillonnage aléatoire simple. Les enfants ont été soumis à des tests de numératie et de vocabulaire, les parents ont été invités à remplir un questionnaire sur les aspects sociodémographiques et l'environnement d'apprentissage à leur domicile, et les enseignants ont été invités à remplir un questionnaire sur les activités préscolaires concernant la numératie et le vocabulaire. Les données ont été analysées à l'aide d'un modèle d'équation structurelle avec la numératie et le vocabulaire comme variables de résultat. Des covariables telles que l'âge, le sexe et le statut social ont également été incluses dans le modèle. Les résultats de cette étude montrent que la numératie est étroitement liée aux compétences en vocabulaire et que seule une activité préscolaire spécifique peut expliquer la variance de la numératie. D'un autre côté, les activités de calcul à la maison et une activité spécifique de littératie préscolaire sont des prédicteurs significatifs des compétences en vocabulaire.