Parental Identity as a Resource for Parental Adaptation During the

COVID-19 Lockdown
Research Article
B09504078
秦愷

“The reason of this study was to examine the role of parental identity as a
resource for parental adaptation during this challenging period in Belgium, thereby
considering both parenthood experiences and parents’ general mental health while
also taking into account the cumulative risk to which parents were exposed.” The
research, which was taken at Belgium, was made through an online questionnaire
(throughout the whole lockdown; from the beginning to the end) targeting any type of
parent (single, married, etc.) Mostly the ones answering the survey were mothers,
which there levels of education where high, also receiving a not so bad monthly
income. The research questions where the following: To examine the associations
between parental identity and the parental outcomes (Research Question 1) and the
hypothesized mediating role of the psychological needs (Research Question 2), and
Q3 to examine the effect of cumulative risk and parental identity. As a result, parental
need satisfaction was found to be a mediating factor in the associations between
parental identity and parental adaptation. Moreover and according to this research, a
parent whose parental identity and goals are set clear since the beginning, will
definitely help them as resilience in any type of experience, such as COVID-19
lockdown.

The importance of the research questions are invaluable, its the core of the
study. Taking into account the first one, which explicitly states that: “It is expected
that a clear and autonomous parental identity would relate positively to positive
parenthood experiences and life satisfaction and negatively to negative parenthood
experiences and ill-being.” If we expect the best of anything that we want, we will
clearly have a positive mind no matter the outcome. But what if only the unexpected
comes right at us? This study showed us great outcomes about parents’ mental health
in Belgium, a first world country and the majority of people who answered the online
questionnaires did not have problems with their monthly salary, and in addition to
that, the lockdown in Belgium was not that long compared to other countries in
America. With all these being said, it is easy to say that having a clear mindset in
what type of parent someone wants to be, and by holding into that thought no matter
what happens in the future, that simple idea will help any person to overcome
difficulties in life. This is one of the things in this article that I strongly oppose to,
mainly because it was taken in a first world country. But the pandemic caused horrors
in third world countries, such as in Africa or in Latin America.
Reading the first page of the research, some parents took this lockdown as an
opportunity to work at home and to spend time with their relatives, most importantly
to (re)discover the joys of parenthood. I don’t oppose to this fact, I remember that my
dad quit the ARMY in order to not miss out my childhood, but it was even harder for
him to not find a suitable job later on to help him give me the life he wanted me to
have. And that’s what happened to many families throughout this pandemic, some
parents did not have the chance to work remotely and were simply fired. Either
because their companies had to unfortunately shut down or simply they couldn’t
afford having so many people working at home.
 Being at home can be relaxing, waking up at a desirable time sounds
promising. Still in the first page we can compare how some parents fared well and
why some others did not. Maybe because of the amount of kids they have. Because
the more kids in a place, the more work a parent has, specially if we are talking about
a single parent. A survey in Colombia showed that mothers had it worst during the
pandemic, since in our society women must be in charge of all the house
responsibilities.

The Mediating Role of Need-Based Experiences

As shown in the article, parents with a clearer and more autonomous identity
are likely to be more proactive in seeking need-satisfying with their children. This
means that parental goals are already set, so parents already know what they want. I
have a very good example for this. My dad battled depression for several years, I was
in my early teenage years but now that I’m an adult I can understand why of his
actions. I have other two younger siblings, and both of my parents (like any other
ones) want simply the best for their kids. A good education, a healthy lifestyle, and to
provide anything we want. But finding a job for my dad has been really difficult,
mainly because he has no college degree. He was unemployed for several years and
had to forcefully migrate to USA but had to returned to our home country due to legal
reasons. With us growing up, due bills and upcoming expenses such as college had
my dad frustrated.

In Latin American macho-culture, the father is the one that has to provide the
most in the family, but I believe this happens in other cultures too. My dad would be
in his room all day long and be grumpy towards silly things, he would go out every
Saturday to get wasted and forget about his problems. Seeing this as a kid was very
shocking, until one day he told me: “I feel like a dog being tighten up, I just want to
run away.” Up until this day this phrase haunts me and when the lockdown started in
my country, the first thought in my mind was my dad’s mental health. Surprisingly he
was doing okay, my dad is one of those old school fathers who doesn’t believe in
Psychologists but somehow managed to be fine throughout the years. I asked him how
did he manage to remain calmed, patient and not losing his sanity again. To which he
said, “because of you.” referring to my siblings and I. In this case, the parental
identity of my dad helped him battle his depression, and with the help of my mother
they created a small business, but not everyone has the same resilience as my dad.
One of my closest friends’ dad committed suicide. Not because he did not have clear
who he wanted to be as a father towards his kids, but because he thought he was not
enough for them, that without him in their life, they will be even better.He could not
handle the pressure of not being able to have a job during the pandemic, and who
knows what other demons he was facing.

It is clear that having a strong mindset towards a goal, it does not have to be only a
parental goal but also a personal one, in some cases is not enough. External factors
highly contribute towards our mental health, for instance: our family, our academic
grades, friends, our job, etc.

The method used to create this research was totally effective. Online
questionnaires give a person the opportunity to decide (without pressure) whether
they want to participate or not, providing the researchers accurate answers. If we
compare this to 1-1 interviews, some people might say yes due to the social pressure
which unfortunately affects the answers given. And also due to the pandemic
biological restrictions, online communication is the optimal way to respond surveys.
Another effective reasons is because it also enhances the people answering it to take
their time patiently to answer the questions. I enjoyed reading this article, besides
disagreeing with some statements, throughout this pandemic I have only read how the
lockdown has affected students or kids’ mental health, but not a single article about
parents.

I would recommend that later on in the future if it is possible, to do a more

general research about parents’ mental health during the lockdown. Not only with first
world countries, but with those who are not socioeconomically well financed so we
can see how the country of residence also affects parents mental health and in this
way we can have a better approach in understanding how their minds work and
comprehend their negativity towards this huge impact that COVID-19 was/is. It will
be great to read about different types of scenarios, how did unemployed parents in
first and third world countries were able to remain sane, or how was their mental
health right before the lockdown and how the pandemic affected it later on. I strongly
believe that an extension of this articles that includes different type of scenarios will
lead us to a different types of mental health perceptions.
As I previously stated before, what I like about this article is that it was
focused on parents’ mental health, since what I have been seeing so far throughout
these pandemic years was only about how was this lockdown affecting only young
adults’ mental health. We expect that our parents have to be mentally and physically
“well” for us, society demands parent that they NEED to be strong in order for them
to be available whenever we, as kids, need their attention or their help. But sadly no
one talks about those bad days at work that they have to fake whenever they get home
so that we don’ t notice their mood. I liked that this article stated that the following
parental need should be met: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. If I feel burnt
out after leaving college, I can’t imagine my parents’ burden of work, plus the idea of
feeding several mouths in a household.

I just hope that during the lockdown, every parent was able to manage their
own demons, whereas it was depression or anxiety. It is not easy to deal with so many
difficulties at the same time. Lets hope that for the near future, there can be remotely
jobs available for a parent depending on their abilities, or online programs where
parents can also work on their mental health. People sometimes take for granted
mental health but I consider the most important thing in my life.