"Tell Me What I'm Doing Wrong:" Criticism of Parenting and Associations with Mental Health during COVID-19

Background and Purpose: During COVID-19, parents have struggled with high levels of economic insecurity, increased parenting stress, and difficulty adjusting to home-based child education during large-scale in-person school closures. In the midst of these challenges, parents were forced to make difficult parenting decisions with little evidence-based guidance from professionals. Social cognitive theory suggests that receiving criticism (i.e., negative feedback) from others can contribute to psychological distress. It may be especially harmful to be criticized about one’s parenting choices during a time of widespread adversity--including economic strain, unemployment, social isolation, and school shutdowns--when there is little guidance about the “right” parenting choices to make. Using longitudinal qualitative and quantitative data, this study examined whether receiving criticism about parenting choices from others was associated with elevated risk for anxiety, depression, and financial worries in the early days of COVID-19.

Methods: Survey data were collected from a national sample of U.S. parents (N = 359) at two time points: April 14, 2020 (T1) and April 30, 2020 (T2). The criticism of parenting measure was adapted from the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health. Parents were asked whether they had been criticized by eight different sources (0=received no form of criticism, 1=received at least 1 form of criticism). Parents were also given an open-ended question about criticism. Anxiety was measured with the GAD-7 (α = .93), depression was measured with the PHQ-8 (α = .91) (0=did not meet criteria, 1=met criteria). Financial worries were measured with 5-item Worry Domains Questionnaire (α = .91). Logistic and linear regression analyses were performed in Mplus, and qualitative responses were coded via two independent coders (90% reliability).

Results: The most frequent source of criticism was a spouse/partner or child’s other parent (67.65%) followed by their own mother or father (30.77%) and in-laws (23.60%). A higher percentage of mothers were criticized than fathers (t = 5.06[1], p = .025). Receiving criticism of parenting at T1 was associated with higher odds of anxiety (OR = 4.65, 95% CI [2.05, 10.52]), higher odds of depression (OR = 3.46, 95% CI [1.52, 7.89]), and higher financial worries (β = .08, 95% CI [.01, 0.15]) at T2, even after controlling for these outcomes at T1. Qualitative responses suggested the most common topics of criticism were too-lenient parenting (20.63%) and too-stringent COVID-19 practices with children (18.13%). Some participants were criticized about the quality and quantity of homeschooling provided (6.88%).

Conclusions and Implications: Receiving criticism of parenting choices during COVID-19 may be associated with poorer mental health and more financial worries. While the providers of such criticism may have good intentions, our study suggests criticism may do more harm than good. Family members may need to reduce their criticism about parenting choices, especially during a time of limited evidence-based guidance for parents. Moving forward, educational campaigns that provide positive and reinforcing messages may help to ease parents’ experiences of criticism.