113 - Increase in Parental Depressive Symptoms Associated with Their Children's Remote Learning During Early 2021 (NLSY 1997)

Poster Number: 113
Publication Number: 113.410

Robert S. Byrd, University of California Davis Children's Hospital, Sacramento, CA, United States

Background: The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted daily life and normal routines, causing stress for parents and children.

Objective: To compare rates of parental depressive symptoms pre-pandemic to those seen in the middle of a pandemic for various characteristics with specific attention to children’s school setting during the pandemic.

Design/Methods: Data from the 2021 Covid Supplement to the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97) were used to quantify and compare parental depressive symptoms.  The 7-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D) ask about depressive symptoms occurring in the prior week, item scores range from 0 (Rarely or none of the time) to 3 (Most or almost all the time) and total scores range from 0 to 21; a score >8 is associated with clinical depression.  Pre-pandemic CES-D scores from 2019 interviews were compared with 2021 scores. Poverty status from 2019 was used. The original study sample comprised 8984 youth ages 12-17 years when first interviewed in 1997. For the 2021 study, 8,490 were invited to participate, yielding a study sample of 5616.  The original sample was drawn to be nationally representative with racial oversampling. 

Results: 5,616 respondents ranged in age from 36 to 41 years (mean 38.2+SD1.46), 45.9% were male; 11.8% live below the poverty index (in 2019), 58.0% had children enrolled in school at the time of the 2021 interview, and these children were in a variety of school settings: in-person (27.2%), remote (35.2%), hybrid (34.3%), and 3.3% neither in-person nor remote.  The mean number of reported depressive symptoms increased from 2019 (pre-pandemic) to 2021 (pandemic) from 2.96 (SD=3.81) to 5.47 (SD=4.81).  The proportion of adults with a CES-D score predictive of clinical depression rose from 11.6% in 2019 to 28.3% in 2021.  Depression symptom scores increased for all characteristics studied, as did the proportion of adults with scores in the clinical depression range.  Specific to school setting, parental depression scores were higher about those with remote-learning (including hybrid-learning) students.Conclusion(s): Among the 5,616 respondents to the 2021 Covid Supplement to the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, rates of depression increased significantly from 2019 to 2021.  58% of these adults had children enrolled in school in 2021 and while their rates of depression were like those without students, remote learning and hybrid learning were associated with higher depression symptom scores and a higher proportion with scores in the clinical depression range. 
Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D) Scores for 2019 and 2021 in NLSY 1997 ParticipantsTable 1
Comparisons of Depression (CES-D score of 8+) from 2019 to 2021 in NLSY 1997 ParticipantsTable 2