Project PACO

Psychological adaptation to the COVID-19 pandemic

In early 2020, various measures were taken around the world to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. It is likely that all these measures (such as extensive contact and travel restrictions) had a significant impact on people’s daily lives. In addition, school closures were a further potential burden for families with school-age children. The aim of this project was to better understand parents’ adjustment to this unusual and, for many, stressful situation. To this end, a longitudinal online survey was conducted. More than 950 parents living in a household with a child of school age completed an initial online questionnaire in late March/early April 2020. More than 560 of them also took part in the second part of the study, in which the parents’ current experiences and well-being, as well as information about the youngest school-age child in the household, were recorded every evening for three weeks. Another online questionnaire followed at the end of these three weeks. This study design was used to investigate which daily experiences were associated with differences in adjustment over these three weeks. In November 2020, a further round of interviews took place to investigate the medium- to long-term effects of daily experiences during the early phase of the pandemic on the development of parents and children.

Key questions

• What everyday experiences are associated with successful adaptation to this situation?
• How do parents’ behaviour and experiences change over a period of three weeks during the COVID-19 pandemic?
• What is the role of homeschooling experiences in this process?
• How do everyday experiences in the early phase of the pandemic affect the experiences of families six months later?

Collaborations

Humboldt University of Berlin: Dr Annette Brose

Selected Publications

Blume, F., Schmidt, A., Kramer, A. C., Schmiedek, F., & Neubauer, A. B. (2021). Homeschooling during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: The role of students’ trait self-regulation and task attributes of daily learning tasks for students’ daily self-regulation. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, 24, 367–391. doi:10.1007/s11618-021-01011-w

Brose, A., Blanke, E. S., Schmiedek, F., Kramer, A. C., Schmidt, A., & Neubauer, A. B. (2021). Change in mental health symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of appraisals and daily life experiences. Journal of Personality, 89(3), 468–482. doi:10.1111/jopy.12592

Neubauer, A. B., Schmidt, A., Kramer, A. C., & Schmiedek, F. (2021). A little autonomy support goes a long way: Daily autonomy-supportive parenting, child well-being, parental need fulfillment, and change in child, family, and parent adjustment across the adaptation to the COVID-19 pandemic. Child Development, 92(5), 1679–1697. doi:10.1111/cdev.13515

Schmidt, A., Brose, A., Kramer, A. C., Schmiedek, F., Witthöft, M., & Neubauer, A. B. (2021). Dynamic relations among COVID-19-related media exposure and worries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychology and Health. Advance online publication. doi:10.1080/08870446.2021.1912345

Schmidt, A., Kramer, A. C., Brose, A., Schmiedek, F., & Neubauer, A. B. (2021). Distance learning, parent–child interactions, and affective well-being of parents and children during the COVID-19 pandemic: A daily diary study. Developmental Psychology, 57(10), 1719–1734. doi:10.1037/dev0001232