Family lifestyle is related to low-income preschoolers' emotional well-being during COVID-19 pandemic

Problem

COVID-19 has profoundly impacted children's behavioral and psychosocial development, especially young children from low-income families. This study examined how caregivers' and preschoolers' lifestyle behaviors (sleep, screen time, physical activity, eating behavior) were related to preschoolers' emotional well-being (sadness, fear, anger, and positive affect).

Methods

Using a cross-sectional design, we recruited low-income caregivers from Head Start organizations and the Qualtrics panel. Participants provided consent and completed an online survey.

Findings

A total of 408 caregivers (mean age = 31) participated: 17% Hispanic, 21% Black, 49% separated/single, 44% unemployed, and 39% with ≤high school education. After adjusting for demographics and preschoolers' lifestyle behaviors, caregivers' sleep disturbance was positively correlated with preschoolers' anger, fear, and sadness, while negatively related to positive affect. Similarly, caregivers' sleep time was positively correlated with preschoolers' sadness and negatively related to positive affect. Preschoolers' sleep time was negatively related to fear and positively related to positive affect. Likewise, preschoolers' physical activity was negatively correlated with fear, sadness, and positively correlated with positive affect. Additionally, preschoolers' fruit/vegetable intake was negatively associated with anger, fear, sadness, and positively associated with positive affect.

Conclusions

The identified behavior-emotion connection provides a foundation for developing family-based lifestyle interventions in promoting mental health among preschoolers.