Socioeconomic status, parenting stress and parenting practices during the covid-19 lockdown in Serbia

Abstract

The lockdown in Serbia imposed major challenges for parents to take on a 24/7 shift in caretaking, educating, and entertaining their children, while managing to complete the demands of their professional roles and everyday household functioning, along with the constant fear of the virus spreading and potential job loss. This study examines parenting practices (enriching activities, harsh parenting, daily structure, screen time and perception of the increase in screen time) during the COVID-19 lockdown in relation to the perceived parenting stress, parents’ socioeconomic status and their working conditions (i.e., without work obligation, working online, working from the workplace). The sample consisted of 1510 mothers of preschool children. Four socioeconomic clusters were identified using the relevant variables (education level, economic status and impact of the pandemic on the financial situation). The results showed that highly educated mothers who worked remotely during the lockdown experienced significantly higher stress of balancing working and parenting than other parents. Mothers who did not work during the pandemic spent more time in enriching activities (p<0.01) and maintained the daily structure better (p<0.01), while mothers who worked remotely perceived a larger effect of the pandemic impact on screen time. The results indicate that, in times of crisis, it is necessary to design the support for the parents of early-aged children corresponding to their specific financial and educational background.

Tokom vanrednog stanja u Srbiji roditelji su se našli pred izazovom da 24 sata, sedam dana u nedelji preuzmu brigu o čuvanju, obrazovanju i zabavi svoje dece, dok ujedno odgovaraju na poslovne zahteve i vode računa o svakodnevnom funkcionisanju domaćinstva, uz stalni strah od virusa i potencijalnog gubitka posla. Ova studija ispituje povezanost između roditeljskih praksi (učestvovanje u razvojnopodsticajnim aktivnostima, disciplinovanje, uspostavljanje strukture dana, vreme koje detet provodi ispred ekrana, roditeljska percepcija povećanja tog vremena) u odnosu na roditeljski stres, socioekonomski status roditelja i uslove u kojima su radili (tj. bez radne obaveze, rad na daljinu, rad na random mestu) tokom izolacije COVID-19. Uzorak je činilo 1510 majki dece predškolskog uzrasta. Četiri socioekonomska klastera su identifikovana korišćenjem relevantnih varijabli (nivo obrazovanja, ekonomski status i uticaj pandemije na finansijsku situaciju porodice). Rezultati su pokazali da su visokoobrazovane majke koje su radile na daljinu tokom izolacije iskusile značajno veći stres zbog usklađivanja radnih i roditeljskih obaveza. Majke koje nisu radile tokom pandemije provodile su više vremena u razvojnopodsticajnim aktivnostima (p<0,01) i bolje su uspostavljale strukturu dana (p<0,01), dok su majke koje su radile na daljinu primetile veći efekat uticaja pandemije na povećanje vremena koje dete provdi ispred ekrana. Rezultati pokazuju da je u kriznim vremenima neophodno osmisliti individualizovanu podršku roditeljima dece ranog uzrasta uzimajući u obzir njihov ekonomski i obrazovni status.