The Relationships Among Neighborhood Perception, Economic Hardship, and Parental Psychological Distress during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Comparison of Urban, Suburban, and Rural Areas

Background: Since March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has sparked concerns and fear throughout the world as well as in the United States. Economic recession spurred by COVID-19 put many families at risk of financial insecurity. The effect of economic hardship on psychological distress may depend on the area in which one lives, since the amount and type of resources available may vary from one area to another. If parents perceive that they can get the resources they need in their neighborhood and have good relationships with neighbors, those factors may be helpful to reduce parents’ psychological distress. Informed by the Family Stress Model and the Collective Efficacy framework, the current study sought to identify whether economic hardship and neighborhood perception are associated with parental psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic, accounting for parents’ rural, suburban, or urban residence.

Methods: The study collected data from parents residing in the United States via a Qualtrics survey from June through July 2022 (n = 436). The independent variable, economic hardship, was measured with the income subscale of the COVID-19 Family Stressor Scale (CoFaSS). Another independent variable, neighborhood perception, was measured with the Brief Sense of Community Scale (BSCS). It included “I can get what I need in this neighborhood,” “This neighborhood helps me fulfill my needs,” and “I feel like a member of this neighborhood.” The dependent variable, parental psychological distress, was measured with the Kessler 6-item scale. Demographic covariates included parent’s age, racial identity, ethnicity, gender identity, highest education level, employment status, and residential area type. Using multiple regression analysis, the study examined the associations among neighborhood perception, economic hardship, and psychological distress.

Results: Almost half (n = 205, 47.0%) of respondents resided in suburban neighborhoods, followed by rural (n = 129, 29.6%) and urban (n = 102, 23.4%) areas. There was a significant positive association between economic hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic and parental psychological distress, with the size of the positive association at its highest in rural areas (b = .88, p <.001), followed by suburban (b = .82, p <.001) and then urban (b = .48, p <.001) areas. There was a significant negative association between neighborhood perception and psychological distress, with residential area-type variations for respondents in suburban (b = -.20, p<.01) and rural (b = -.16, p <.05) areas. Notably, the association was not found for respondents in urban residential areas.

Conclusions and implications: Living in rural and suburban neighborhoods showed a stronger association between economic hardship and psychological distress than living in urban neighborhoods. While having positive neighborhood perceptions predicted lower psychological distress in rural and suburban neighborhoods, this trend was not present for respondents in urban neighborhoods. The findings suggest that targeted interventions are needed to reduce parental psychological distress. For parents in urban neighborhoods, investing in resources for economic growth may be more imperative to reduce psychological distress. For parents in rural and suburban neighborhoods, strengthening social cohesion as well as providing financial resources may be helpful for parents’ coping with psychological distress.