During the COVID-19 pandemic, parents experienced difficulties around employment and children’s schooling, likely with detrimental mental health implications. We analyze National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 data (N = 2,829) to estimate depressive symptom changes from 2019 to 2021 by paid work status and children’s schooling modality, considering partnership status, gender, and race-ethnicity differences. We draw on cumulative disadvantage theory alongside strained advantage theory to test whether mental health declines were steeper for parents with more disadvantaged statuses or for parents with more advantaged statuses. Parents with work disruptions, without paid work, or with children in remote school experienced the greatest increases in depressive symptoms, with steepest increases among single parents without paid work and single parents with children in remote school (cumulative disadvantage), fathers without paid work (strained advantage), and White parents with remote school (strained advantage). We discuss the uneven impacts of the pandemic on mental health and implications for long-term health disparities.

中文翻译：

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累积劣势还是紧张优势？COVID-19 大流行期间的远程教育、带薪工作状况和父母的心理健康


在 COVID-19 大流行期间，父母在就业和孩子上学方面遇到了困难，可能会对心理健康产生不利影响。我们分析了 1997 年全国青年纵向调查数据 （N = 2,829），以估计 2019 年至 2021 年按带薪工作状况和儿童学校教育方式的抑郁症状变化，同时考虑伴侣关系状况、性别和种族-民族差异。我们利用累积劣势理论和紧张优势理论来检验处于更弱势地位的父母或处于更有利地位的父母的心理健康下降是否更陡峭。工作中断、没有有偿工作或有孩子在远程学校的父母的抑郁症状增加幅度最大，其中没有带薪工作的单亲父母和孩子在远程学校就读的单亲父母（累积劣势）、没有带薪工作的父亲（紧张优势）和远程学校的白人父母（紧张优势）的增幅最大。我们讨论了大流行对心理健康的不均衡影响以及对长期健康差异的影响。