Are Parents Really As Stressed as Their Kids?
Parents are an important stakeholder in the lives of their children. From the parental point of view, the negative impact on students’ mental health is something that has a further impact on grades and overall well being. The majority of parents want to see their children succeed not only as students, but as people too. The pandemic has inhibited, in some cases, either of those things from happening. Not all parents are equipped with the proper tools to aid their children as their mental health spirals further and further into a bottomless pit, as shown by the American Education Research Association. With parents having to take on the new role of educator as well as all other parental duties, the pandemic has also had an impact on their mental health. While parents have seen a decline in mental health with their children, the issues facing children cannot be addressed until those of their parents are, according to Deborah Weisbrot, director of Psychiatry at Stony Brook University. Especially in the situation of COVID, parents are able to use emotional appeals to relate to their children and what they are experiencing. Parents, as stakeholders in their children's mental health as students, claim that the mental health of their children is quite important to them. Parental mental health, too, feeds off of that of their children, according to a study conducted by Menting Wu, et. al. Parents hold a large stake in this issue, as mental health has come to the forefront of the media in general. AERANews, director. Distance Learning and Parental Mental Health During COVID-19. YouTube, YouTube, 15 Dec. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=7khjJ-RPrxo. Weisbrot, Deborah M, and Ryst, Erika. "Debate: Student Mental Health Matters – the Heightened Need for School‐based Mental Health in the Era of COVID‐19." Child and Adolescent Mental Health 25.4 (2020): 258-59. Web. Wu, Mengting et al. “Mental health status of students’ parents during COVID-19 pandemic and its influence factors.” General Psychiatry vol. 33,4 e100250. 21 Jul. 2020, doi:10.1136/gpsych-2020-100250 Image: Piacquadio, Andrea. “Pexels.” Penn State News, Penn State University, 18 May 2020, news.psu.edu/story/620290/2020/05/18/research/covid-19-pandemic-affects-all-college-students-probably-not-equally.
