Contemporary Parenting and Its Association With Parents’ Well-Being in the Face of COVID-19: The Mediating Role of Guilt

This study examines the association between the contemporary role of parenting and the wellbeing of its agent—the parent. In particular, I focus on parental feelings of guilt as a mechanism underlying the association between parenting styles and difficulties to adjust to changing circumstances, in the face of COVID-19. The sample was recruited through social networks and included 382 Israeli parents, mostly educated mothers (ages 23–57, average education 16.4 years) who reported being the primary caregiver in a committed relationship. All participants filled out online self-report questionnaires that addressed their parenting style, parental guilt feelings, and difficulties to adjust in the face of COVID-19. The analysis of these questionnaires indicated a significant direct association between hostile/coercive parenting and adjustment difficulties, and an indirect significant association between engaged/supportive parenting and adjustment difficulties through parental guilt feelings. These findings are discussed in light of the Conservation of Resources Theory and in light of parental contemporary social imperatives.