Public health measures aimed at controlling the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus have inadvertently had negative consequences on the mental health of parents globally. During the period of lockdowns in Australia, which were among the longest running in the world, many parents had to manage multiple work and family responsibilities, with limited access to usual support structures, such as social supports, healthcare and educational services, and outdoor spaces. During the first six months of the pandemic, rates of mental distress among parents were high. However, studies having examined mental health trends over an extended period of the pandemic are limited and we do not know if parents’ mental health has recovered.

The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index, within SEED Lifespan, is a long-running annual population survey in Australia, which collected data spanning the pre-pandemic period and across four pandemic years. These data were used to address two aims. These were (1) to examine differences in parents’ mental distress and subjective wellbeing during the pandemic, compared to pre-pandemic (i.e., 2013); and (2) to examine patterns of parental mental distress and subjective wellbeing over the four years since the pandemic (i.e., 2020–2023). This study found that the mental distress of parents has remained higher than that before the pandemic. And that parents’ life satisfaction has hit a 20-year low. The findings highlight the importance of providing public health supports to respond to these sustained mental health impacts and the need to focus policy on both preventative and responsive care.

You can discover more here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165032725015307

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