Maternal psychological distress and children’s internalizing/externalizing problems during the COVID-19 pandemic

Bianco, Federica; Levante, Annalisa; Petrocchi, Serena; Lecciso, Flavia; Castelli, Ilaria

doi:10.3390/ijerph181910450

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Journal article

Maternal psychological distress and children’s internalizing/externalizing problems during the COVID-19 pandemic : the moderating role played by hypermentalization

Bianco, Federica Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy
Levante, Annalisa Department of History, Society, and Human Studies, University of Salento, Lecce, Italy - Lab of Applied Psychology, Department of History, Society, and Human Studies, University of Salento, Lecce, Italy
Petrocchi, Serena Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland
Lecciso, Flavia Department of History, Society, and Human Studies, University of Salento, Lecce, Italy - Lab of Applied Psychology, Department of History, Society, and Human Studies, University of Salento, Lecce, Italy
Castelli, Ilaria Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy

04.10.2021

Published in:

International journal of environmental research and public health. - MDPI. - 2021, vol. 18, no. 19, p. 17

Children’s internalizing problems

Children’s externalizing problems

Maternal psychological distress

English 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.

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