The present study aimed to investigate a possible association between parental psychosocial work stress and parent-child bonding during the early COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. In the total sample, an association was only found after potential confounders were included indicating that higher the psychosocial work stress is associated with a weaker bonding between the parent and child. The higher the psychosocial work stress was, the higher were the parental symptoms of depression and aggression. These in turn were related to weaker parent-child bonding. The results furthermore suggested that parental mental health symptoms of depression and aggressiveness mediate the association between psychosocial work stress and parent-child bonding.
Association between psychosocial work stress and parent-child bonding
In the bivariate analyses for the total sample, parental psychosocial work stress was not significantly associated with parent-child bonding. However, after adding possible confounders, an association could be found, indicating a weakened parent-child bonding with increasing psychosocial work stress. Two of the included confounders, age of index child and working in home office, predicted parent-child bonding. The older a child was and when a parent worked in home office, the weaker the parent-child bond was. Accordingly, a suppressor effect of the respective two confounders can be assumed.
Parents who worked in home office due to the COVID-19 restrictions seemed to have weaker parent-child bonding than parents who did not work in home office. This is contrary to research findings that showed a potentially positive impact on family relationships when parents work in home office, since doing so not only reduces potential stressors, such as commuting to work, but parents may also spend more time with their family (126). An explanation could be, however, that switching to working in home office during the COVID-19 pandemic may have added conflicts at home because parents had to adopt new routines considering a changing schedule (127, 128). Moreover, they must care for their offspring at home due to reduced opening hours of childcare facilities. Parents of toddlers that had to switch to working in home office at short notice during the COVID-19 pandemic while daycare facilities were still closed, may have in particular experienced more stress. After all, a child who is beginning to explore her/his environment by crawling and walking needs not only special supervision but also play and learning incentives. Furthermore, parents may feel that they do not work as efficiently in such a situation (129). These circumstances possibly have a deteriorating rather than uplifting impact on family relationships (59, 130-132). For instance, Chung and colleagues pointed out that stay-at-home orders may add to parenting stress, which in turn can affect the parent’s relationship with their children and increase harsh parenting (60). In sum, the results of the present study support the assumption that experiencing work stress can spill over to the family domain (35, 36, 51).
The separate analyses for mothers and fathers did not reveal a significant relationship between psychosocial work stress and parent-child bonding. The analyses for the mothers suggested that increased hours at work and not working in home office were associated with better mother-child bonding. A possible explanation might be that these mothers feel less tense and resentful towards their child because they can share the emotional responsibility for their child with their partner (133) as they share the responsibility of working out of the house as well as in the family. Dividing everyday tasks and obligations can also strengthen a sense of support and commitment to the family (134, 135). Further resources that can support a harmonious family life may comprise effective conflict resolution (136) and dyadic coping (137) strategies. All these aspects can foster feelings of closeness between the family members and thus, parent-child bonding. Another interpretation of this finding could be that mothers and children who are separated from each other for a long time during the day simply miss each other and are accordingly more pleased to see each other again in the evening (138). This would also be consistent with the family strengths perspective (139), according to which working parents use their strengths as a family, e.g., enjoying time together and managing stress effectively. In the present study, only the number of hours and not the quality of childcare was collected. If family strengths, in line with the family strengths perspective, were utilized after coming home in the evening during childcare, this could have served as a buffer and strengthened family relationships. Additionally, according to role enhancement theory (140, 141), working in an enjoyable and rewarding job outside the home can exceedingly contribute to women's health. Employment can provide stimulating input and the opportunity for personal growth. The resulting energy and satisfaction can spill over into leisure time after work, contributing to fulfilling family time and thus strengthening relationships between family members.
Interestingly, for fathers, neither psychosocial work stress nor hours of work or working in home office showed an association with bonding with the child. In recent years, much has changed with respect to sex differences in employment rates and the number of hours of childcare and household work. Nevertheless, mothers in Germany predominantly take care of the household and children even when they are employed (142, 143); for other European countries with similar results, see (144), when they work in home office (145, 146), and even during the COVID-19 pandemic (126, 147). Fathers, on the other hand, are still predominantly in paid employment (143). Although the difference of the employment rate in households with minor children is less pronounced in East Germany (92% for men, 80% for women) than it is in West Germany (93% for men, 73% for women (148)), it could be speculated that some fathers still identify more with the role of breadwinner and provider for the family (149). Therefore, the number of hours they work and whether they do so at home or in the office may not make a big difference to them concerning family relationships – possibly also because mothers tend to take the household and childcare load off them. Nevertheless, further research on differences between working mothers and fathers and the impact on family relationships is still needed.
Association between psychosocial work stress and symptoms of impaired mental health
Psychosocial work stress predicted higher scores of symptoms of depression as well as of aggressiveness. This was true for the whole sample as well as for the analyses conducted separately for mothers and fathers (the only exception was that psychosocial work stress narrowly failed to significantly predict symptoms of aggressiveness). All in all, these results confirm previous research indicating that occupational stress is positively related to depressive symptoms in different groups of employees (29, 30, 76, 150-152). Likewise, preceding research showed a positive correlation between occupational stress and symptoms of aggression (77-79, 152-154). Work-related stressors can contribute to an increasingly negative attitude toward work, exhaustion and dejection, or irritability and imbalance. During the COVID-19 crisis and associated challenges, such as working in a home office for the first time with a possible associated extension of work hours (155) and caring for children at the same time, work and personal life may become more difficult to separate (156, 157). This could lead to heightened stress due to overwork and poorer work-life balance. With limited contacts and less leisure activities outside the home, there is often a lack of social support and compensation for employment. These factors possibly promote adverse psychological behavior and thought spirals of symptoms of depressiveness and aggressiveness (158).
Association between symptoms of impaired mental health and parent-child bonding
Symptoms of depression as well as aggressiveness predicted weaker parent-child bonding in the analyses for the total sample. These results confirm previous studies that demonstrated a negative link between symptoms of depression (90, 91), of aggressiveness (92-97) and the parent-child relationship. Moreover, in exceptional situations like the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health is at risk, as shown by studies related to previous crises (159-161) or periods of prolonged stress (162-164). Russell and colleagues collected data during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic and found that there is a clear relationship between mental health symptoms and both parent-child conflict and closeness (59). Parents with more severe symptoms of depression reported greater conflict with their children. If there are quarrels between family members and a correspondingly tense situation at home, it can be assumed that the relationship between the family members becomes also strained. Such effects on the family can also be expected from aggressive behavior. If parents show angry or violent behavior towards their child, this disturbs trust, and the bond may suffer accordingly.
The separate analyses for the mothers and the fathers showed differences in their results. Maternal symptoms of depression unexpectedly did not predict bonding with their child. This is contrary to a lot of former research that confirmed a negative association between depression and mother-child bonding (e.g., (51, 80, 81, 83-89). Additionally, Russell and colleagues pointed out that mothers with higher depressive symptomatology reported more conflict in their relationship to their child (59). But closeness which is also part of the mother-child bonding was not associated with their mental health. This fits the results of the present sample, as again, the two confounders – hours of work and home office – predicted the bonding between mother and child much better than the mothers' symptoms of depression. Perhaps maternal depression affects the mother-child bonding especially in the first year after birth, but later not so much, because strong bonding with the child may already have been established. Since many mothers with children under one year of age were excluded from this study, this could have had a biasing influence on the results of the analysis. Moreover, the double burden of family and work responsibilities often leads to conflict, especially for mothers (165). The results of the present study showed that the more hours at work and if not working in home office, the better the mother-child bonding. This suggests that mothers may have experienced some relief from the double pressures of work and family duties through increased and energizing work time away from home (see role enhancement theory (140, 141), thereby reducing stress and strengthening the relationship with their child.
For fathers, on the other hand, the picture presented itself to be quite different. For them, symptoms of depression were associated with bonding with the child, but work hours and home office were not. This result seems to be in line with Russell and colleagues who found that depressive fathers reported a higher score of conflict with their children than depressive mothers (59). Possibly fathers experience a higher burden of childcare which may be associated with more exhaustion and depressiveness (59). Although attitudes regarding traditional parenting roles, including responsibilities for paid and unpaid work, have changed in recent decades, there is an ongoing lack of equality for men and women in employment (149). The number of employed men (92%) in East Germany is still higher than that of women (80%) (148). According to Thoits, being a father continues to be positively associated with employment (166). This could mean either that men tend to view employment as a precondition for parenthood or that it is relatively easy for men – compared to women – to combine parenthood and employment. Work variables then may not have as much of an impact on the bonding with his child, because he does not perceive himself as threatened in his role at work (167).
All in all, work situation variables seem to have a differential impact on mothers and fathers as well as their family relationships. This should be addressed in future research and investigated in more depth (see (168)).
The mediator role of parental impaired mental health
There was a mediation effect for symptoms of depression as well as aggressiveness in the analyses of the total sample. Therefore, the results of this study highlight not only a spillover effect from the work to the family domain, but also a crossover effect within the family domain, from the parents to the children (35, 36). Being mentally distressed seems to have an impact on family relationships, namely parent-child bonding. The mediation effect for symptoms of depression as well as aggression was also evident in the separate analyses for the group of mothers as well as fathers.
The result of the mediation analysis with symptoms of depression is in line with Repetti and Woods research (51). More than 20 years ago they stated that on days when depressive mothers reported higher loads at work, they stated less involvement with and less responsiveness to their children, which may negatively impact parent-child bonding. In a more recent study with older children, Wheeler and colleagues found a mediating role of parental depressive symptoms for the association between work stress and parent-adolescent relationships (169). Similarly, Moreira and colleagues demonstrated that parental mental distress mediates the relationship between work stress and mindful parenting (170). In sum, not only previous research but also this study underscores the importance of mental health in the context of psychosocial work stress and its association with parent-child bonding.
Research on the work-family interface that examines a possible mediating role of parental aggressiveness for the association between work stress and parent-child bonding is very scarce. Previous studies focused on the family domain with investigations of a possible mediating role of poor parenting behavior for the association between parental stress and child problem behavior (e.g., (171-173)). For instance, Deater-Deckard and Scarr found that more stressed parents used more authoritarian disciplinary strategies, which in turn were related to children's misbehavior (171). The results of the present study therefore highlight the importance of addressing parental emotional dysregulation and aggressive behavior in future research.
One explanation for the mediating role of mental health symptoms in the association between parental work stress and the relationship with children may lie in the cognitive and emotional distress that is often part of depressive and aggressive symptomatology. If parents experience stress at work and become depressed or emotionally agitated as a result, they tend to be mentally and emotionally preoccupied with the sources of stress. Attention to the well-being of other family members, especially children, may suffer as mother and father are consumed with their own problems. Parents, however, who are sensitive and attentive to their children in everyday life can lay a good foundation for close parent-child bonding (174). In this context, Moreira and her colleagues ((170); see also (174, 175)) described the value of mindful parenting, which is characterized by responsiveness, attentiveness, openness towards and acceptance of the child. Furthermore, mindful parents are able to regulate emotions and behavior while interacting with their child. This may be exactly what is challenging for parents who experience psychosocial work stress and struggle with depressive or aggressive symptomatology and thus, strengthening a bond with their child may be disrupted (170).
Strengths and limitations
This study extends the research on the work-family interface. To begin with, the present paper was the one of the first to address the association between psychosocial work stress and parent-child bonding. Validated, established measurement instruments that are often used in bonding and work stress research were used. Secondly, this study was among the first to investigate this particular question in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The aspect of mental health was included and looked at in more detail, as this was found to be important in previous studies in contexts of crisis. Thirdly, this study adds to international research concerning work stress and its impact on families, because so far there are only a few other recent studies that explicitly addressed parents in Germany (e.g., (176, 177). Moreover, this investigation is part of the prospective longitudinal cohort study DREAM (108), which collects data of mothers as well as of fathers. Therefore, future studies can build on the present results and explore further issues related to work and family health.
However, some limitations of this study need to be considered. Due to its cross-sectional design, psychosocial work stress and symptoms of impaired mental health (depression and aggressiveness) were measured at the same time, yielding certain challenges. There is theoretical evidence from previous research that psychosocial work stress may cause mental distress (e.g., (74, 178, 179)), which in turn may have an impact on family relationships, and parent-child bonding in particular (e.g., (80-82). However, there is still the need for extended research provided by longitudinal analyses to draw final causal conclusions. One must also consider the potential measurement error due to the timing of filling out the questionnaire, like Ford and colleagues (38) pointed out in their review. Psychosocial work stress can vary from day to day and depending on which day of the week a participant completes the questionnaire, they may respond based on the current state. On a stressful weekday, perceptions of work stress may be different than on a relaxed weekend.
In addition, since this study was a questionnaire study, there is some risk of subjectivity and social desirability in the responses given, which could lead to bias in the results (see e.g., (78, 93)). This bias might be smaller in online studies because there is no face-to-face contact between participant and researcher (180). Nevertheless, it could be advantageous to collect observational data in future studies in order to obtain more objective, standardized results (181).
Further, there seemed to be some challenges regarding the data collection instruments used. The ERI Questionnaire was chosen as a well-established measure instrument (117). Its reliability was proven to be acceptable (182) or even good (14, 118). In the present study, however, the reliability of the sub-scale effort was somewhat lower. Moreover, the PBQ (4) was originally developed for the postpartum period, conceptualized as the time period from delivery to six months after (based on (183). It was often used in parent-child bonding research for this age range (e.g., (184-188). The present study included children who were between 0–36 months of age (like only a few other studies, e.g., (189-191). Therefore, it is possible that there is a measurement bias since parent-child bonding decreased with increasing age of the child. Future research should consider alternative parent-child bonding questionnaires in studies with children older than six months.
The current community sample comprised mothers and fathers who came from a rather educated and established background. A much higher percentage had a university degree (47%) than the average population in Saxony (17.4% in 2019; (192)). Moreover, the majority (98%) of the sample was born in Germany, which is a much larger number than the number in the population in Saxony (95% in 2020; (193)). Furthermore, 98% of the participants were in a stable relationship and the average of the mental health and stress factors indicated a rather healthy sample. Therefore, the results should not be generalized to families that cope with severe mental distress or that live in vulnerable, low-income family settings. It may be important to point out that most mothers with an index child under 12 months were excluded due to lack of employment during their parental leave. Therefore, the distribution of mothers and fathers who had a very young child differs and the groups may not be well comparable concerning work stress variable and bonding to their child.
Research implications
Our results provide a number of implications for future research. For example, future studies should include working hours and home office as primary predictors as these appear to be significantly related to parent-child bonding. Additionally, studies should include other mental health factors to find possible further mediation effects. In this context, the COVID-19 pandemic also poses a challenge, as reviews showed that anxiety has increased in the population (64, 65). Previous research found that anxiety is not only positively associated with work stress (76, 151, 194) but also with impaired parent-child bonding (59, 83, 184, 195). Moreover, it may be interesting to investigate whether anxiety mediates the association between psychosocial work stress and parent-child bonding especially in mothers, since anxiety is more prevalent in the female population (196) and if there are any differences to fathers.
In addition, it would be useful to identify possible protective variables that counteract the effects of work stress on parent-child bonding, for instance job satisfaction (197, 198) or adequate communication and dyadic coping (137, 199, 200). Marital satisfaction may also have a protective as a harmonious relationship between the mother and her partner may serve as support in a stressful family life and foster parent-child bonding (11).
Practical implications
Implications for the parents’ work settings. Employers should ensure that employees experience the best possible balance between effort and fair compensation and appreciation for their work contributions. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic it is critical for parents that companies expand their family-friendly features, which can alleviate stress among employees with children, e.g., offering flexible working hours and childcare options (201-203).
The study also indicated that paid work outside the home can have a highly health-promoting effect for women in general and for mothers in particular. In the workplace, they can develop their personal and professional skills, and thus shape their family life and relationships in an enriched and fulfilled way. To promote the health of all family members, it should be worthwhile to make parents and employers aware of this important opportunity.
Implications for prevention and awareness of parental impaired mental health. Screenings for depressive symptoms or other psychological distress could help identify parents at risk in the workplace (204, 205). In the clinical setting, psychoeducation could support awareness of stress and depression indicators in parents as well as their children (59). Not only internalizing behavior, but also externalizing behavior such as anger and verbal or physical aggression must be considered in this context. Work stress can have a detrimental effect on employees' inner balance and emotional state. It is helpful if they learn coping strategies so that there is no spillover effect of anger that puts family members and relationships at risk. This is especially important for vulnerable families, as studies show that during the COVID-19 pandemic domestic violence in Germany (206, 207) (as well as in other parts of the world (e.g., (208, 209)) has been on the rise. Therefore, Arnout and colleagues emphasized the importance of prevention and treatment of mental health problems that arise during the COVID-19 pandemic ((210); see also (211, 212)). These may include online counseling and therapy while following social distancing policies (63, 211, 213, 214). First aid interventions using social networking webpages are fit to use as they are easily accessible, fast, and cost-effective for the public (215).