Background: The gender gap in mental health that emerged in Germany during the pandemic grew disproportionally among partnered parents. The question arises as to why mothers – compared to fathers – experienced greater declines in mental health when guiding their families through the pandemic. Objective: This study investigates how changes in childcare arrangements affected parental mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. Methods: The German Family Panel is based on a random probability sample from which we selected n = 803 partnered mothers and fathers interviewed before (2018–2019) and after (2020) the onset of the pandemic. We ran change score regression models to examine (1) whether changes in gender inequality in childcare arrangements predict within-changes in mental health among mothers and fathers, and (2) whether gender role attitudes moderate this association. Results: Systematic mental health differences can be pinpointed at the intersection of gender inequality in childcare and gender role attitudes. Women in stable female childcare arrangements in which the mother did relatively more childcare and women who transitioned from non-female to female childcare arrangements experienced the largest mental health declines. This association was particularly salient among women with egalitarian attitudes. Men in these childcare arrangements either experienced no change or even improvement in certain mental health dimensions. By contrast, sharing childcare was mentally beneficial for both mothers and fathers in this global health crisis. Conclusions: Gender inequality in childcare is a risk factor for women’s health, particularly during times of shifting patterns in employment and childcare arrangements. Contribution: Taking lessons from the pandemic, policymakers should acknowledge the disproportionate burden that mothers carry when institutional childcare and schooling are unreliable. Accordingly, the unfolding childcare crises in Germany and beyond need to be tackled from a gender-sensitive perspective.

中文翻译：

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大流行的教训：德国儿童保育中的性别不平等以及父母之间性别心理健康差距的出现（作者：Nicole Hiekel、Mine Kühn）


背景：疫情期间德国出现的心理健康方面的性别差距在有伴侣的父母中扩大得不成比例。问题在于，与父亲相比，为什么母亲在引导家人度过这场大流行病时，心理健康状况出现了更大的下降。目的：本研究调查德国 COVID-19 大流行期间托儿安排的变化如何影响父母的心理健康。方法：德国家庭小组基于随机概率样本，我们从中选择了 n = 803 名有伴侣的母亲和父亲，在大流行爆发之前（2018-2019 年）和之后（2020 年）接受了采访。我们运行变化分数回归模型来检验（1）儿童保育安排中性别不平等的变化是否可以预测母亲和父亲心理健康的内部变化，以及（2）性别角色态度是否会调节这种关联。结果：系统性心理健康差异可以通过儿童保育中的性别不平等和性别角色态度的交叉点来查明。在稳定的女性育儿安排中，母亲承担相对较多的育儿工作，而从非女性育儿安排过渡到女性育儿安排的女性，其心理健康状况下降幅度最大。这种关联在持平等态度的女性中尤其明显。在这些儿童保育安排中的男性在某些心理健康方面要么没有任何变化，要么甚至有所改善。相比之下，在这场全球健康危机中，共同照顾孩子对母亲和父亲来说都在精神上有益。结论：儿童保育方面的性别不平等是妇女健康的一个风险因素，特别是在就业和儿童保育安排模式发生转变的时期。 贡献：从大流行中吸取教训，政策制定者应该承认，当机构儿童保育和学校教育不可靠时，母亲承受着不成比例的负担。因此，德国及其他地区正在发生的儿童保育危机需要从性别敏感的角度来解决。