Publication date: Aug 11, 2026
This multi-method, multi-informant, quasi-experimental study examines trajectories of child psychopathology over an 8-year period pre-and post-COVID-19 pandemic. We examined parenting as a moderator of the COVID-19 impact. Participants were 310 low-to-middle-income families from the United States with a target child followed over 6 waves (Wave 1, Mage = 2. 97, SD = 0. 38; 55. 3% girls; 55. 2% White, 21. 3% African American, 16. 2% mixed race; Wave 6: Mage = 9. 32, SD = 0. 76). Findings indicated that children exhibit significant linear growth and COVID-related growth above and beyond the linear growth in internalizing problems. Pre-COVID parenting moderated this effect, such that low paternal structure and consistency and low parental secure-base provision strengthened the association between COVID impact and the growth of internalizing problems, yielding greater increases under high impact and lower increases under low impact.
| Concepts | Keywords |
|---|---|
| American | child psychopathology |
| Covid | COVID-19 pandemic |
| Girls | parenting |
| Moderator | |
| Psychopathology |
Semantics
| Type | Source | Name |
|---|---|---|
| disease | MESH | COVID-19 pandemic |