Maternal psychological distress and children’s internalizing/externalizing problems during the COVID-19 pandemic
the moderating role played by hypermentalization
Informazioni aggiuntive
Autori
Bianco F.,
Levante A.,
Petrocchi S.,
Lecciso F.,
Castelli I.
Tipo
Articolo pubblicato in rivista scientifica
Lingua
Inglese
Sommario
In order to explore the psychological impact of the COVID‐19 outbreak on the caregiver–child relationship, we investigated the interplay among COVID‐19 exposure and children’s internalizing/externalizing problems during the Italian lockdown, hypothesizing a mediation effect played by maternal distress. Additionally, we included maternal reflective functioning (i.e., hypermentalization) as a moderator factor among this interplay. A total of 305 Italian mothers of children aged 6–13 years (M = 10.3; SD = 2.4) filled in an online survey. Findings revealed an indirect effect of maternal COVID‐19 exposure on children’s anxious/depressed (k2 = 0.46) and attention problems (k2 = 0.32) via maternal distress. Hypermentalization moderated the impact of maternal COVID‐19 exposure on children’s anxious/depressed problems (β = −1.08, p = 0.04). Hypermentalization moderated both the relation between maternal distress and children’s aggressive behaviors (β = 12.226; p < 0.001) and between maternal distress and children’s attention problems (β = 5.617, p < 0.001). We found pivotal significant effects of maternal hypermentalization on children’s anxious/depressed and attention problems, indicating that the higher the mother’s hypermentalization was, the higher the children’s problems were. Our results broaden what we knew on the role of maternal reflective and emotional functioning on children’s emotional/behavioral adjustment during stressful situations.
Parole chiave
COVID-19, Reflective functioning, Children’s internalizing problems, Children’s externalizing problems, Maternal psychological distress
Periodico
International journal of environmental research and public health
Volume
18
Numero ( Mese )
19
Pagine (o numero dell’articolo)
17
Diffusione
Licenza
CC BY
Visibilità
Pubblico
Status open access
Gold
