Triggered by worry: A dynamic network analysis of COVID-19 pandemic-related anxiety and parental stress

Abstract

Background: Major disruptions to daily life routines made families and parents particularly vulnerable to psy- chological distress during the COVID-19 lockdowns. However, the specific psychopathological processes related to within-person variation and maintenance of anxiety symptomatology and parental distress components in the parental population have been largely unexplored in the literature. Methods: In this preregistered intensive longitudinal study, a multilevel dynamic network was used to model within-person interactions between anxiety symptomatology, psychopathological processes, parental distress, and protective lifestyle components in a sample of 495 parents—each responding to daily assessments over a 40-day period. A total of 30,195 observa- tions were collected across the subjects. Results: Extensive worry, threat monitoring, and uncontrollability of worry were identified as overreaching psychopathological processes related to the aggravation of other symptoms of anxiety and parental distress. A strong association was found between parental stress and parental burnout. Anger toward one's child was associated with both parental stress and parental burnout. Protective factors showed the lowest strength cen- trality, with few and weak connections to other symptoms and processes in the network. Limitations: Associations may exist between the study variables on a different time scale; hence, different time lags should be used in future research. Conclusions: Accessible, low-cost interventions that address worry, threat monitoring, and the uncontrollability of worry could serve as potential targets for reducing the symptom burden of anxiety and distress in the parental population.