DOI
https://doi.org/10.25772/3DBA-A224
Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/
0000-0002-4456-1892
Defense Date
2022
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Marcia Winter
Abstract
Research suggests that youth are dealing with a myriad of worries during the COVID-19 pandemic (Ellis et al., 2020), which highlights the need for investigations focused on child anxiety. However, to date little research has examined children’s anxiety in the COVID-19 pandemic nor the potential protective effects of the caregiver-child relationship. Therefore, this research aimed to contribute to the literature by investigating the influence of COVID-19 related stressors in younger children and leveraging children’s report of their own attachment security within their relationship with their caregiver and mental health. The current study used a national, quantitative survey of young children (ages 8-12 years; N = 90) and their primary caregivers (parent or legal guardian; N = 90) to investigate the link between pandemic-related stressful events and circumstances and child anxiety as well as the moderating role of caregiver-child attachment security. Findings suggest that (1) pandemic-related stressful events and circumstances were not related to child anxiety scores (i.e., total and subtypes) and (2) caregiver-child attachment security did not moderate the relationship between stressful pandemic-related experiences and child anxiety scores. However, preliminary analyses indicated that anxiety levels were higher than in previous community samples (assessed prior to the pandemic) and that higher caregiver-child attachment security was associated with lower anxiety levels. Thus, preliminary findings indicate a possible cohort effect for child anxiety during the pandemic and underscore the importance of stability and relationship security within the household during pandemic quarantine. This research could inform future studies on child anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
3-24-2022