COVID-19 hardship and mental health in Chilean parents: the role of disaster exposure and family resilience.

IF 4.2 2区医学 Q1 PSYCHIATRY

European Journal of Psychotraumatology Pub Date : 2025-12-01 Epub Date: 2025-03-04 DOI:10.1080/20008066.2025.2465001

Camila Espinoza, Lenneke Alink, David P Laplante, Bernet Elzinga, Shelley van der Veek

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: The negative mental health effects of the pandemic on families are well documented, while factors that buffer or increase such effects still need further investigation. Previous exposure to adversity might increase the negative impact of pandemic experiences. On the other hand, family resilience may protect against these negative effects, and may also be regarded as a mediator explaining the negative association between pandemic hardship and mental health.Objective: The current study focused on the effects of COVID-19-related hardship on parental mental health. We evaluated the impact of the individual experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health among Chilean parents from a community sample, who were exposed in varying levels to a destructive earthquake and tsunami approximately 10 years earlier.Method: Participants (N = 219) completed online measures of pandemic hardship, mental health, disaster hardship related to the past earthquake, and family resilience. We examined the moderating role of disaster exposure and the moderating and mediating role of family resilience on the current impact of the pandemic on mental health.Results: Individual exposure levels of COVID-19 hardship were associated with mental health complaints. Both previous disaster hardship and family resilience were associated with mental health complaints. However, previous disaster hardship did not moderate the relationship between pandemic hardship and mental health complaints, nor did family resilience moderate or mediate it.Conclusions: These results align with the evidence of the negative emotional impact of pandemic-related stressors, and propose family resilience and past disaster exposure as relevant predictors of mental health during the sanitary emergency. Findings are discussed in the broader social context in Chile and warrant adjusting public policies towards those underserved groups heavily affected by the pandemic.

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来源期刊

European Journal of Psychotraumatology Multiple-

CiteScore

7.60

自引率

12.00%

发文量

153

审稿时长

18 weeks

期刊介绍： The European Journal of Psychotraumatology (EJPT) is a peer-reviewed open access interdisciplinary journal owned by the European Society of Traumatic Stress Studies (ESTSS). The European Journal of Psychotraumatology (EJPT) aims to engage scholars, clinicians and researchers in the vital issues of how to understand, prevent and treat the consequences of stress and trauma, including but not limited to, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depressive disorders, substance abuse, burnout, and neurobiological or physical consequences, using the latest research or clinical experience in these areas. The journal shares ESTSS’ mission to advance and disseminate scientific knowledge about traumatic stress. Papers may address individual events, repeated or chronic (complex) trauma, large scale disasters, or violence. Being open access, the European Journal of Psychotraumatology is also evidence of ESTSS’ stand on free accessibility of research publications to a wider community via the web. The European Journal of Psychotraumatology seeks to attract contributions from academics and practitioners from diverse professional backgrounds, including, but not restricted to, those in mental health, social sciences, and health and welfare services. Contributions from outside Europe are welcome. The journal welcomes original basic and clinical research articles that consolidate and expand the theoretical and professional basis of the field of traumatic stress; Review articles including meta-analyses; short communications presenting new ideas or early-stage promising research; study protocols that describe proposed or ongoing research; case reports examining a single individual or event in a real‑life context; clinical practice papers sharing experience from the clinic; letters to the Editor debating articles already published in the Journal; inaugural Lectures; conference abstracts and book reviews. Both quantitative and qualitative research is welcome.