From economic stress to children psychological maladjustment during the COVID-19 pandemic: Which role for the coparenting conflict and authoritarian parenting practices?

Following the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, numerous contributions in the literature explored separately the impact of restrictive measures both on families’ economic hardship and on the quality of family relationships, in terms of co-parenting and parenting practices. The aim of the present study was to explore the association between economic stress and children’s psychological maladjustment, by hypothesizing that high levels of co-parental conflict and maternal authoritarian parenting practices could jointly act as serial mediators. Participants were 277 mothers and their children (44% male), aged between 3 and 10, and beleonging to families of medium-high socio-economic level. 37.5% of respondents said that the pandemic and related restrictions had a significant negative impact on their family income. The results highlighted the presence of significant associations between economic stress and children’s psychological maladjustment and showed how this assocation was mediated by high levels of both co-parental conflict and authoritarian parenting behaviors.