Abstract
We conducted a literature review to analyze the sources of work and family conflicts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, we investigated these conflicts’ effects on children’s mental health and academic progress during their remote learning encounters. We discovered that the COVID-19 pandemic led to the closure of most schools and employment organizations. Consequently, most children and parents and children were confined to their households. Most parents took up the role of instructors in the distance learning environment. They kept an eye on their children to ensure they finished their schoolwork on time. Parents also took up the responsibility of enforcing school standards at home, which led to a rise in parent-child confrontations due to unmet expectations. Furthermore, most parents lost their employment, making them express their anger to their children, causing fear and intimidation in the family. Then, we suggest that school counselors develop cooperative plans involving school staff and community members to repair broken family relationships. To ensure children establish good ties with their parents, school counselors should also give life skills training to COVID-19 family conflict victims.
Keywords: Family conflicts, mental health, distant learning, parent-child confrontations
Work/Family Conflicts During the COVID-19 Pandemic
After the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the United States in 2020, the federal and state governments were forced to implement several protective measures to counter the devastating effects of the virus. Some of these measures included mandatory stay-at-home directives that forced many children to stay locked in their homes with their parents for several months (Kalil et al., 2020). Under the lockdown conditions, families were exposed to fears of getting infected, mental health issues, loss of household income, and increased uncertainties, which increased the risks of family conflicts. Previous studies indicate that caregiver burden under the quarantine conditions increased the chances of parent-child conflict during the COVID-19 pandemic. Children were also alienated from necessary support services where they could report child abuse and neglect cases, exposing them to more dangers in their home environments (Sinko et al., 2021). Furthermore, the changes in the daily routines of children and their caregivers increased tensions at home, which also increased the chances of a conflict. The COVID-19 pandemic increased household family and work conflicts, which threatened children’s mental health, causing a socioemotional disturbance.
Sources of Work/Family Conflicts Since COVID-19
Child Productivity and Parental Expectations
The COVID-19 pandemic forced learning transitions from school settings into home-based learning, which increased parent-child conflicts. Under remote learning conditions, most parents assumed the partial roles of educators. They supervised their children to ensure they completed school tasks within the allotted time. Parents also enforced school policies at home, which increased parent-child conflicts to unmet expectations (Sinko et al., 2021). Some of these cases led to abuse due to uncontrolled reactions from parents. In some cases, parents also transferred their office duties and started conducting their roles under the work-from-home initiatives. This transition increased the work burden on parents because they were forced to conduct their office work while monitoring their children’s learning activities. Children who failed to meet parental expectations in learning were abused as parents took advantage of the situation to vent their anger.
Furthermore, conflict arose at home regarding how children spent their leisure time and contributed to household chores and other responsibilities. Some children were spanked regularly for missing targets set by their parents. Students with disabilities faced the gravest disadvantage during the pandemic due to mishandling by their parents (Sinko et al., 2021). Some conditions like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder may weaken a child’s performance, attracting punishment from unrelenting parents. Most parents were unwilling to sympathize with their children regarding their medical conditions as they deemed them lazy. Disagreements in norms about how adolescents should devote their time at home appeared to prolong family disagreements and cause stress within household situations.
Parental and Child Mental Health Issues
The COVID-19 pandemic cut off typical support for children and parents, causing fear and uncertainty in homes causing mental health issues that increased home conflicts. In terms of parental mental health, many children observed that their parent’s mental health problems remained unattended, leading to physical and verbal abuse. Some children claimed their parents shouted at them for their disgusting attitude, which made no sense because they had not committed any offense during the confrontations (Sinko et al., 2021). Many youths claimed their parents were under unregulated stress, making them constantly yell. Some even went the extra mile to inform their children about suicidal thoughts. This issue caused fear among many children, with most of them wondering about their futures, considering that their parents were the sole breadwinners in their families.
Furthermore, overexposure between parents and their children in these mentally charged conditions aroused feelings of responsibility among many youths, possibly leading to overburdening thoughts. Many children believed that they had the responsibility to take care of their parents, who had turned wild in the face of the pandemic (Kalil et al., 2020). Parents with preexisting mental health conditions experienced the worst nightmares during the pandemic since the restricted movement denied them access to therapies. Most hospital units had been turned into COVID-19 containment centers, limiting the ability of mental health patients to receive adequate care. In such scenarios, children took the responsibility of caregivers, which exposed them to parental aggression and conflicts.
The pandemic also exposed children to increased drug and substance abuse. The confinement meant drug-abusing parents/siblings lacked the space to hide, smoke, or inject illegal drugs. As a result, they were forced to abuse drugs in the presence of young children who were induced into drug and substance abuse. Increased substance abuse in the household led to mental health issues and conflicts. Alcoholic parents hurl insults at their children, weakening their confidence. Some parents even kept threatening their children daily, leading to fear and trauma in the household (Kalil et al., 2020). Many children believe that their parents deserve mental health counseling. However, they lacked a proper method of proposing the treatment to their parents for fear of physical and verbal abuse. Some parents do not believe in mental health counseling, which may prolong conflicts in the family.
Some children also experienced mental health issues due to perceived neglect from their parents. The children became frustrated that their parents did not try to address their situation causing parent-child conflicts. Some children even contacted hotlines seeking mental health therapy but received rebellion from their parents, who thought they would be sued for child abuse or neglect.
Home-Based Violence
Hotline contact reports indicated domestic violence claims surged during the pandemic as most intimate partners reported being physically or verbally abused. Most children reported that their parents experienced substantial domestic violence during the pandemic, which caused emotional instability. Despite similar reported cases in the past, the pandemic increased the contact hours between parents and their children, which increased the chances of conflict (Sinko et al., 2021). Children claimed that their parents argued over minor issues, which erupted into physical violence. Parents are the children’s first role models. Therefore, most children became traumatized when they saw their parents fighting because the situation broke their trust and confidence. These experiences have had outreaching effects as some children still grapple with their experiences even after the pandemic.
Furthermore, the lockdown exacerbated the emotional reaction of most children because they lacked access to schools which served as a sanctuary during family conflicts. As a result, they believed these conflicts would become long-term, causing panic and a desire to live outside their households. Some children also fall victim to their parent’s conflicts as objects throw away as another partner mistakenly lands on them, causing fear and panic. Also, they lacked the courage to contact social workers and law enforcement officers, fearing broken relationships with their caregivers.
Loss of Employment and Household Income
The COVID-19 pandemic caused one of the most significant threats to the global economy since the end of the Great Depression. The U.S. labor market declined sharply due to the mandatory stay-at-home measures implemented by the federal and state governments. Some state boundaries were blocked, denying access to external commuters who traveled daily to different workplaces (Gadermann et al., 2021). School closures also mean parents and children spend more time together at home with limited resources. Consequently, most parents fell into fear and panic and started abusing their children recklessly.
Moreover, some schools transitioned into e-learning, allowing students to conduct their studies remotely. However, this process came with an extra financial burden because parents were expected to pay for the technological costs of the e-learning services (Gadermann et al., 2021). Some parents panicked and started abusing their children for lacking enough funds to sustain online learning for their children. Furthermore, e-learning platforms require computer literacy among parents to facilitate effective learning for their children. This issue also brought panic as most parents started accusing their children of increased stress.
The shift to e-learning also affected the nature of parent-child interactions at home as parents became more involved in their children’s learning process. Children from low-income households were shown to experience elevated adverse outcomes from their counterparts in high-income households. Low-income households experienced changes in their social support and health benefits, which caused shock and panic in the family. As a result, children from these households were less likely to attract adequate support from their parents in the learning process, increasing the chances of poor academic achievement and socioemotional instability.
Weakened International Crisis Management Frameworks
The COVID-19 pandemic weakened the ability of international conflict resolution organizations to solve conflicts in war-prone areas. The lockdown restrictions affected the humanitarian supply chains worldwide. Consequently, conflict-prone areas like refugee camps experienced elevated family conflicts due to limited access to humanitarian resources (International Crisis Group, 2020). The lockdown restrictions forced the closure of most international airports as most humanitarians from different regions were denied access to some middle east nations that are characterized by constant conflicts. On the other hand, peace-keeping envoys had little time to focus on increased domestic issues as most resources and time were devoted to combating the spread of the virus. As a result, children were subjected to increased fear and panic as they lacked essential support to report child abuse cases. These issues may have long-term effects on the mental health of the victims; hence’ they require immediate counseling.
Remedies in School Counseling
To serve students who suffered physical and verbal abuse during the pandemic, school counselors should develop cooperative plans that involve school staff and community members. Cooperative counseling plans would ensure that the school installs effective counseling frameworks recognized within the community (Zunker, 2015). Community leaders may also facilitate counseling programs by visiting schools to contribute to particular classes.
Furthermore, school counselors must assist teachers in developing career development goals for child abuse victims of the COVID-19 pandemic. These counselors should provide students with vital information on their roles and work relationships in their future workplaces. They may provide teaching aids that will enable educators to guide their students toward maintaining positive mental health and adjusting their attitudes toward education.
Counselors may also provide prevocational skills education to victims of child abuse during the pandemic. Prevocational skills train students to accept their social responsibility, be punctual, and take the initiative in community projects (Zunker, 2015). Counselors should collaborate with teachers to include this training in ordinary classroom instruction to ensure that students incorporate these skills in their daily learning to increase the chances of internalization. They should also suggest appropriate assessment tools to measure the level of adjustment of these students based on their current training.
School counselors should also conduct life skills training on victims of COVID-19 family conflicts to ensure children develop positive relationships with their parents. These life skills training will also inform students how to deal with parent-child conflicts in the future to avoid broken family relationships (Zunker, 2015). For example, the victims should be encouraged to report abusive parents to the school administration. This strategy will ensure that parents receive effective counseling to inform them about handling future parent-child conflicts without inflicting unnecessary pain on their children.
School counselors should also plan parent-child dialogue events to improve family and school communication. Children who communicate frequently and effectively with their parents are unlikely to face child abuse and neglect and are more likely to achieve positive academic outcomes (Zunker, 2015). Furthermore, these interactions would restore the children’s trust and confidence in their parents, creating positive learning environments. Through these interactions, parents are more likely to improve their involvement in their children’s education, leading to the achievement of more academic goals.
Conclusion
The COVID-19 pandemic intensified family and job tensions in homes, threatening children’s mental health and producing socioemotional disruption. Most parents took up the role of instructors in the distance learning environment. Some of these incidents resulted in maltreatment due to parents’ uncontrollable emotions. Furthermore, the COVID-19 epidemic cut off traditional services for children and parents, producing anxiety and uncertainty in households, resulting in mental health difficulties that exacerbated family tensions. During the epidemic, most children’s parents reported significant occurrences of domestic violence, which produced mental instability. School closures also meant that, with fewer resources, parents and children spent more time together at home. As a result, most parents panicked and began beating their children irresponsibly. School counselors should establish collaborative strategies with school personnel and community members to help adolescents who experienced physical and verbal abuse during the outbreak. School counselors should also provide life skills training to COVID-19 family conflict victims to guarantee that children build healthy connections with their parents.
References
Gadermann, A. C., Thomson, K. C., Richardson, C. G., Gagné, M., McAuliffe, C., Hirani, S., & Jenkins, E. (2021). Examining the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on family mental health in Canada: findings from a national cross-sectional study. BMJ Open, 11(1), e042871. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-042871
International Crisis Group. (2020, March 24). COVID-19 and Conflict: Seven Trends to Watch. Crisis Group. https://www.crisisgroup.org/global/sb4-covid-19-and-conflict-seven-trends-watch
Kalil, A., Mayer, S., & Shah, R. (2020, October 5). Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on Family Dynamics in Economically Vulnerable Households. Papers.ssrn.com. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3706339
Sinko, L., He, Y., Kishton, R., Ortiz, R., Jacobs, L., & Fingerman, M. (2021). “The Stay at Home Order is Causing Things to Get Heated Up”: Family Conflict Dynamics During COVID-19 From The Perspectives of Youth Calling a National Child Abuse Hotline. Journal of Family Violence. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-021-00290-5
Zunker, V. G. (2015). Career Counseling: A Holistic Approach. In Google Books. Cengage Learning.
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