Coping in isolation: Predictors of individual and household risks and resilience against the COVID-19 pandemic

• Main Authors: Nicolas B. Verger, Agata Urbanowicz, Rebecca Shankland, Kareena McAloney-Kocaman
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2021-01-01
• Series: Social Sciences and Humanities Open
• Subjects: COVID-19; Resilience; Psychosocial competences; Parental burnout; Children
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S259029112100019X

The present short commentary aimed at highlighting the potential impact of lockdown specifically on parents and children’s mental health. Embedded within a systemic view, it identified protective factors that may account for individual and household resilience. In the first section of this manuscript, we present the core concepts of resilience, before we highlight the adverse risks of the current COVID-19 situation on parents’ and children’s mental health. We provide evidence that parents and children alike might be concerned by increased risks of chronic diseases, abuse, and violence. Complementarily, we report the importance of psychological needs and competences and propose ways to promote these competencies among households. Overall, this paper emphasises that psychosocial competences such as creativity, emotion regulation, or interpersonal skills may constitute important characteristics to help parents and children alike coping and even thriving in the current worldwide adversity of the COVID-19 pandemic.