Teenage Pandemic Stress: Exploring the Relationship between Gender, Pandemic-related Stress, and Parent Perceptions of Stress
Abstract
Background: Research shows that adolescent girls have experienced worse pandemic-related stress than adolescent boys. High stress levels can lead to poor mental health and behavioral outcomes presently and later in life. If parents are aware of their child’s stress levels and respond accordingly, the stressor is more likely to be acknowledged and addressed as it arises. Therefore, we assessed whether parents’ estimation of their adolescent children’s self-reported pandemic-related stress differed depending on the child’s gender.
Methods: We performed cross-sectional secondary analysis using the nationally representative Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health study datasets from Wave 5 (2018-2019) and Wave 5.5 (July 2020-December 2020) among respondents aged 12-17. We conducted four logistic regression models to explore the relationship between child gender and parental underestimation of their child’s pandemic-related stress. We controlled for sociodemographic factors and personal characteristics associated with pandemic-related stress, including whether the adolescent had been diagnosed with COVID-19; the extent social distancing measures were practiced; previous year anxiety, depression, and overall mental health ratings; and other measures.
Results: Even when controlling for these factors, female child gender was significantly and positively associated with parental underestimation of their child’s pandemic-related stress (Underestimated stress: OR = 1.25 95 % CI = [1.07-1.46]).
Conclusions: Adolescent girls were more likely than boys to have their pandemic-related stress underestimated by their parents, likely resulting in unresolved stressors and mental health burdens. Research has shown that adolescent girls are more likely than boys to cope with stress by leaning on supports that were largely unavailable during the pandemic. Informing parents about the underestimation of adolescent girl’s stress at home and gendered differences in stress responses may encourage parents to take extra effort when checking in on their daughters’ mental health, which may lead to more adolescent girls receiving the familial and professional support they require.
Keywords
adolescents, stress, pandemic, gender
Teenage Pandemic Stress: Exploring the Relationship between Gender, Pandemic-related Stress, and Parent Perceptions of Stress
Background: Research shows that adolescent girls have experienced worse pandemic-related stress than adolescent boys. High stress levels can lead to poor mental health and behavioral outcomes presently and later in life. If parents are aware of their child’s stress levels and respond accordingly, the stressor is more likely to be acknowledged and addressed as it arises. Therefore, we assessed whether parents’ estimation of their adolescent children’s self-reported pandemic-related stress differed depending on the child’s gender.
Methods: We performed cross-sectional secondary analysis using the nationally representative Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health study datasets from Wave 5 (2018-2019) and Wave 5.5 (July 2020-December 2020) among respondents aged 12-17. We conducted four logistic regression models to explore the relationship between child gender and parental underestimation of their child’s pandemic-related stress. We controlled for sociodemographic factors and personal characteristics associated with pandemic-related stress, including whether the adolescent had been diagnosed with COVID-19; the extent social distancing measures were practiced; previous year anxiety, depression, and overall mental health ratings; and other measures.
Results: Even when controlling for these factors, female child gender was significantly and positively associated with parental underestimation of their child’s pandemic-related stress (Underestimated stress: OR = 1.25 95 % CI = [1.07-1.46]).
Conclusions: Adolescent girls were more likely than boys to have their pandemic-related stress underestimated by their parents, likely resulting in unresolved stressors and mental health burdens. Research has shown that adolescent girls are more likely than boys to cope with stress by leaning on supports that were largely unavailable during the pandemic. Informing parents about the underestimation of adolescent girl’s stress at home and gendered differences in stress responses may encourage parents to take extra effort when checking in on their daughters’ mental health, which may lead to more adolescent girls receiving the familial and professional support they require.
