Stress of the COVID-19 pandemic: South African parents’ adaptation and coping strategies in response to a change in daily life

Abstract

This study explored South African parents with preschoolers’ experiences of coping and adapting to stress and changes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fifteen parents of preschoolers were purposively recruited into the study between October 2022 and May 2023. Using semi-structured interviews, we explored their experiences of stress and coping during the COVID-19 pandemic. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed using ATLAS.ti. Themes comprising parental experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic included changes to daily life due to COVID-19 restrictions, parental adaptation to changing schedules and parental coping strategies. This study adds to knowledge on how parents adapted to the pandemic as a stressor and identifies areas for future research.

The COVID-19 pandemic, declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization in January 2020, triggered far-reaching consequences. These included economic strain from business closures and job losses, increased pressure on healthcare systems, and health complications among persons infected, and in some cases hospitalisation and death (del Rio et al., 2020). The pandemic also significantly impacted individuals’ psychological well-being and mental health (Coetzee & Kagee, 2020) as well as family functioning.

A significant restriction on parents during the pandemic was the closure of preschools which necessitated a shift to online learning. Parents faced numerous challenges in supporting their children’s education, including limited training or teaching skills, poor internet connectivity, children’s lack of preparation for these measures and financial constraints (Abuhammad, 2020). In addition, parents were also required to maintain their own work commitments while also adhering to COVID-19 restrictions, which affected their socialisation, and working and leisure activities (Perold et al., 2024).

Increased parental stress was experienced in both high-income countries and low- and middle-income countries during the COVID-19 pandemic (Sahithya et al., 2020; Spinelli et al., 2020; Zafar et al., 2022). In the United States, Adams et al. (2021) used the Perceived Stress Scale to examine parental stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. The average parental stress score was 22.0 ± 6.4 during the height of the pandemic, which was significantly higher than the pre-pandemic average score of 16.3 ± 5.7 (p < .01). Four months later stress levels had decreased slightly to 19.2 ± 6.0 but remained significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels (p < .01). A South African qualitative study showed a strong pattern of poor mental health with increased reports of stress, anxiety, fear and depression, attributed both to the COVID-19 virus and the lockdown. (October et al., 2021). These findings highlight the importance of understanding how individuals experience and respond to stress, as outlined in Lazarus and Folkman’s (1984) Transactional model of stress and coping.

The transactional model of stress and coping postulates that individuals constantly appraise stimuli within their environment that elicit specific emotions (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). When stimuli are deemed challenging, threatening or harmful, the resultant distress initiates a process of coping that either manages emotions directly or addresses the stressful stimuli (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). Lazarus and Folkman (1984) describe two main coping strategies: emotion-focused coping, which involves managing one’s emotional response to stress when the situation must be endured, and problem-focused coping, which involves taking action to change the stressful situation when it is seen as controllable. However, coping does not occur in isolation. Families often undergo long-term adjustments in response to prolonged stressors, a feature linked to resilience. According to Masten (2001), resilience is defined as a dynamic process that promotes positive adaptation or a beneficial outcome despite the presence of adversity or risk. However, Masten (2001) suggests that in order for an individual to be resilient, there needs to be both the presence of risk or adversity and an observable positive outcome or adaptation. In this study, these two features are essential to understanding how parents adapted to the changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among American parents, children’s emotional regulation was associated with parents’ self-reported coping with parenting in the pandemic but not with increased stress. Those parents who scored in the elevated range on the measure of mindfulness and had children who displayed superior skills in emotional regulation reported better coping with parenting during the pandemic than those who did not (Moran et al., 2023). Similarly, in a group of Spanish adolescents, the two most important protective factors in coping with pandemic-related stresses were social support and keeping busy during the lockdown (Postigo-Zegarra et al., 2021). Among a Belgian sample, clear parental identity was related to parental adaptation, with parental need satisfaction mediating this association (Schrooyen et al., 2021). These studies suggest that adaptation during the pandemic was enhanced by individual resources, social connections and evolving parental practices.

In particular, we focused on parents of preschoolers, as, to our knowledge, no research has examined COVID-19-related stresses within this population. Preschoolers typically require greater parental attention and support than older children, making this developmental stage especially sensitive to family disruptions. Moreover, little is known about how South African parents coped with and adapted to the profound changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic (Davidson et al., 2021). Understanding these processes is necessary, as coping and adaptation not only reflect parental resilience but also directly influence children’s development and functioning (Karrit & Coetzee, 2025). South Africa is marked by distinct challenges, including economic inequality, a digital divide and diverse cultural and family structures (Makiwane et al., 2017; von Fintel & Orthofer, 2020). Against this backdrop, the study examined the lived experiences of South African parents with preschoolers during the COVID-19 pandemic, asking the following research question: How did parents of preschoolers adapt and cope with the stress and changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic?

Method

Procedure and participants

Participants for this descriptive qualitative study were parents of preschoolers attending preschools and daycare facilities located in the Stellenbosch and Cape Town regions. Participants were recruited by means of purposive sampling via a recruitment flyer, which explained the research aims of the study. After participants agreed to participate, they completed the informed consent procedures and participated in a semi-structured interview. After the interviews were completed, recorded and transcribed, the data were thematically analysed. In total, 15 participants participated in the semi-structured interview between October 2022 and May 2023. At first the interviews took place in-person but following a poor-response rate, we shifted to an online medium via MS teams. Inclusion criteria were being a parent of a preschooler (ages 4–6 years), being able to communicate in English and having a reliable internet connection to participate in an online interview.

Instrument

The semi-structured interview schedule was developed in accordance with the study’s primary aim and research question, focusing on parents’ experiences of changes to daily routines, stress and coping during the COVID-19 pandemic. It comprised nine questions (with various sub-questions) organised into three sections. While the interview schedule guided the conversation, the semi-structured format allowed for flexibility; thus, follow-up questions not explicitly outlined in the schedule were posed when relevant. In this way, the schedule served more as a framework to facilitate discussion rather than a rigid list of questions. The coping-related questions were informed by Lazarus and Folkman’s (1984) transactional model of stress and coping, while the remaining sections were guided by the overall research question. The schedule was not piloted prior to data collection.

Ethical considerations

The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee at Stellenbosch University (Ethics Number: 25892). We recruited participants through various preschool liaisons who shared the recruitment flyer inviting parents to participate. Participants provided both written and verbal informed consent before the interview. Participants were told that participation was voluntary and that they could withdraw from the data collection at any stage. All data were safeguarded through the use of back-up storages (both on a hard drive and online). Participants received a R200 Takealot voucher (an online shopping app) as a token of appreciation for their participation. Their names were kept confidential (with pseudonyms either provided by the participants or authors). All data were kept in a locked cabinet at Stellenbosch University. Only the two authors had access to the stored data. Participants received the details of the Welgevallen Community Psychology Clinic in Stellenbosch which offered free counselling and therapeutic services in the event they that became distressed.

Data analysis

With the assistance of ATLAS.ti version 9.1, Braun and Clarke’s six-step method of thematic analysis was employed (Braun & Clarke, 2019). The Lazarus and Folkman model was applied deductively to organise parental coping strategies, while the other two themes (change to daily life and parental adaptation) were generated inductively from the data.

Results

Based on participants’ lived experiences, three interconnected themes emerged: (1) Changes to Daily Life due to COVID-19 Restrictions, (2) Parental Adaptation to Changing Schedules and (3) Parental Coping Strategies. The first theme, Changes to Daily Life due to COVID-19 Restrictions, comprised three subthemes: a new normal, added parental responsibilities and a shift to remote working. The second theme, Parental Adaptation to Changing Schedules, was represented by four categories: adjustment of daily routines, redistribution of family responsibilities, adapting to the needs of children and adaptation of social interactions.

Change to daily life: the stress of COVID-19 restrictions

A new normal

The COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown regulations were major shocks to most participants, who recalled experiencing disbelief, fear and uncertainty over the implications of the global pandemic. This uncertainty was a significant cause of stress during the initial parts of the pandemic, either due to the unknown impact and length of the regulations or the possible effects of the COVID-19 virus. For example, Jessica, the mother of a 5-year-old boy, stated ‘it is actually silly if you think about it, but I think the main feeling was one of uncertainty and that led to anxiety’.

The stay-at-home order issued by the government and the associated social distancing required major changes to their routines. This restriction relieved some participants, as it was a break from their busy pre-pandemic lives. However, once the novelty of confinement wore off, participants reported increased family tension and pressure among people living together, due to a lack of autonomy. For example, Jane, a 28-year-old mother of three, stated, ‘I think we were just underneath each other’s skin all the time. We needed that space. Like it wasn’t great for our relationship to be in each other’s face 24/7’.

Added parental responsibilities

In addition to their usual household responsibilities, such as cooking, cleaning and laundry, participants were also required to take on tasks that were previously outsourced. With preschools and aftercare services closed, parents became responsible for both educating and entertaining their children, which often added to their stress alongside existing commitments. For instance, Bridget, a mother of two preschoolers, stated that her experience of teaching her children was completely unexpected. She stated, ‘You expect your kids will always go to school and be taught by a teacher, and you’ll help them with homework. Now, suddenly, you’re teaching them, teaching them concepts. . . . It was quite a struggle’.

Participants stated that they felt ill-equipped with the skills needed to foster educational development in their children. They stated they were inexperienced in the necessary systems for remote learning, Google Classroom, unfamiliar with the content and selection of the schoolwork, and lacked patience and creative skills required for effective learning at a young age. Parents reported being overwhelmed with the task at hand. Isabella, a 35-year-old mother of one, she stated, ‘a big benefit of the creche setup. It’s someone else evaluating my child. You, as a parent, can’t evaluate your child. You won’t see the issues. You won’t see the shortcomings . . . It’s 100% a blind spot’.

A shift to remote working

Another notable implication of the COVID-19 restrictions was the shift to remote work. While some participants appreciated the flexibility it offered, others found it difficult to balance work and childcare. Dennis, a 43-year-old father of two stated,

you get extremely stressed if your kid’s crying at the back while you’re busy working, as you can’t be bothered. So, I remember the stress of that. A child needing you – walking in, it was extremely stressful because you still got formal in your head.

Parental adaptation to changing schedules

Adjustment of daily routines

The first form of adaptation was the adjustment of pandemic routines, either through the continuation of pre-pandemic routines or the introduction of new elements within their daily routine. For example, participants stated that they kept their child on the same nap schedule as that of the preschool and ensured that eating and bathing times remained constant relative to pre-COVID-19 times. Ayesha, a mother of three, continued to prepare her children as if they were going to school. She stated, ‘I would still put their lunches in their lunch boxes so that they have a feeling we are going to school. I would dress them . . . so they are not in their PJs in front of the computer’.

Other parents reported incorporating school-related and family-focused activities into their daily routines, such as arts and crafts, outdoor play, family walks, and shared mealtimes. These activities provided opportunities for family bonding. For example, Jessica, introduced a daily family quiet time, giving her family a chance to have some personal space and alleviating the pressures of the COVID-19 lockdown. She stated,

so, every day, he knows that if he looks at the watch, he is like, ‘It’s quiet time now, mommy’. And we have the two hours of quiet time, whether you sleep or not, he just knows that we leave each other alone.

Redistribution of family responsibilities

The second form of adaptation involved sharing childcare responsibilities with other family members. As documented, the COVID-19 pandemic facilitated numerous changes in parents’ lives which allowed previously work-bound parents to spend more time at home. Participants stated that while one worked, the other attended to child responsibilities. Thus, fathers took on a more equal share of childcare duties than before the pandemic. For instance, Dennis stated, ‘And through COVID, it became more of a joint effort, which it still is. Well, it’s still more on my wife. But the point is it’s much less on her than it used to be’.

Adapting to the needs of their children

Due to the closure of preschools, parents adapted to the needs of their children, specifically in their approach to teaching. These adaptations involved setting up activities in specific areas of the home to replicate experiences their child would have had at preschool. Other participants found unique ways to enhance the teaching experience for their children and themselves, such as resource-sharing between parents or using the internet to find ways to ensure adequate stimulation for their children. For instance, Jane stated, ‘I decided to make it fun. Before, I just wanted to get it done and was like, “Let’s fill in the answers, let’s get done, let’s move on.”’

Adaptation of social interactions

Due to restrictions on individual movement during the pandemic, many individuals were cut off from their friends and family. Participants stated that they adapted to this restriction through social media, either through apps or video calling. In some cases, they fostered new relationships and adopted new aspects within their daily routines by adapting to the lockdown restrictions. For instance, Jane stated,

We tried doing lots of chats on the laptop or on the phone, face timing with family and friends. We used to do that on a Friday night. All of our friends would get together . . . We would chat, laugh a little for about an hour and then that would be our life.

Parental coping strategies

According to Lazarus and Folkman (1984), when individuals appraise their situation as stressful, they subsequently use various coping strategies to manage the situation. One widely employed emotion-focused coping strategy was through the belief of hope and positivity. Participants stated that they found it beneficial to alter their thinking from negative experienced to positive experiences. For example, Ayesha, a mother of three, stated that her children stated, ‘Don’t worry, mommy, it’s not going to be forever like this. It’s just for now; let’s do this together. If we can do it together, you’re not alone’. For Ayesha, viewing the pandemic and lockdown as temporary represented a form of cognitive reframing that helped her cope with the situation. The comfort and support she received from her children reflected reliance on social support as an additional emotion-focused coping strategy.

Participants also managed their stress by focusing on one specific task at a time, which reduced emotional intensity and prevented them from feeling overwhelmed by multiple demands. For example, Vanessa, a 37-year-old mother of a 5-year-old son, explained that concentrating on the present moment, rather than worrying about the future helped relieve her stress, which reflected a present-focused, emotion-focused coping strategy. She stated, ‘and like I said, you have to take it day-by-day. I mean . . . you’ve got a saying, you have to eat an elephant one bite at a time’.

A way parents corrected a problem causing stress was through research and subsequent knowledge acquisition, either with the assistance of family members or mental health professionals. Participants reported that they acquired previously unknown information through research, thereby gaining a greater understanding of the problem. Jive, a 39-year-old mother of two, reported stress involving her inability to manage her children’s emotions. She stated that she found a solution by reading parenting books. She stated, ‘I learned a lot from it because there were some books I used to get regarding kids’ moods, tantrums, what to do, how to go about and it, and it did actually work’.

Discussion

The aim of the current study was to investigate South African parents’ experiences of change and sources of stress during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the ways they adapted and coped with these challenges. The results highlighted three overarching themes: (1) changes to daily life due to COVID-19 restrictions, (2) parental adaptation to changing schedules and (3) parental coping strategies. While the first and third themes were largely anticipated, an unexpected finding was the extent to which parents engaged in adaptive processes, particularly through the adjustment of pre-pandemic routines, to make their time during the pandemic more manageable.

Guided by Lazarus and Folkman’s (1984) Transactional Model of Stress and Coping, the discussion will consider how parents used both emotion-focused and problem-focused strategies to respond to stressors. In addition, the findings are interpreted through the lens of Masten’s (2001) Resilience Theory, highlighting resilience as a process of positive adaptation in the face of adversity. Accordingly, the discussion is organised into two sections: the first addressing the stressors parents encountered, and the second examining the coping and adaptation processes that supported resilience.

The pandemic and its related restrictions came as a significant shock to parents, who initially appraised the situation as stressful. As Dugdale et al. (2002) note, unforeseen and unexpected stressors often have a greater impact on individuals than anticipated stressors, as there is little opportunity to foresee or plan for them. The experiences of the current participants are echoed by Li et al. (2021) who observed that the pandemic introduced heightened uncertainty and fear, which reduced parents’ ability to effectively prepare for future scenarios and, in turn, increased stress and anxiety. Although the initial onset of the pandemic garnered a deep sense of uncertainty, this experience was not isolated. It was compounded by a range of stressors that surfaced as the pandemic and its associated restrictions evolved. Two key consequences of these restrictions significantly disrupted daily routines and heightened stress levels, namely, the closure of early childhood education facilities and the widespread transition to remote work arrangements.

The closure of preschool facilities created a shift in parents’ daily routines, particularly with the increased responsibilities they were now required to manage. Fathers described taking an equal share of household chores than before the pandemic. This experience was attributed to the enforcement of social distancing, which prohibited employing domestic cleaners during the COVID-19 pandemic. Carlson et al. (2022) similarly reported a shift to a more egalitarian division of household tasks across various demographic profiles within their US sample. The implications of this shared responsibility was an equal allocation and completion of domestic housework between parents.

The most reported responsibility during the pandemic was the sudden need for parents to take on teaching duties. For many parents, this task was met with varying degrees of difficulty, either due to their inexperience with teaching or the lack of skills needed to facilitate an educative experience, findings congruent with current literature (e.g., Abuhammad, 2020; Dlamini et al., 2021).

Similar to other research (Bolisani et al., 2020), working from home was a highly contentious experience for several participants. Some parents felt that the transition was widely beneficial as it allowed for multi-tasking. However, others felt frustrated with the sudden expectation to work from home while caring for their children. Participants stated that their actions of attending to their children contradicted their beliefs that their time should be spent working during the day, resulting in individuals experiencing discomfort and stress. Al-Habaibeh et al. (2021), noted that although remote working conferred increased productivity, it was detrimental to parents’ work–life balance, which was an experience shared by current participants with an inability to disengage from work responsibilities in their home environment.

Altogether, the unpredictability of the pandemic, the sudden increase in childcare and teaching responsibilities, and the demands of working from home were appraised by the parents as stressful, eliciting coping responses through both emotion- and problem-focused strategies. Yet, rather than merely enduring these challenges through coping, parents actively adapted by adjusting their schedules and routines to manage these compounded demands, demonstrating resilience and positive adaptation in the process. The findings indicate that parent coping was still vital in their experiences of managing pandemic-related stress. Consistent with previous research (Adams et al., 2021; Jansen et al., 2021; Zafar et al., 2022), participants used coping strategies to provide immediate relief from stress. Most strategies reported here align with those documented in earlier studies on parental coping during COVID-19 (e.g., Adams et al., 2021; Salin et al., 2020).

Although the participants’ coping strategies could be delineated between problem-focused or emotion-focused coping, the specific method of strategy differed between participants. For example, parents coped with stress through hope and positivity, which links with the coping strategy of cognitive reframing, that is, the process of identifying and altering harmful thought patterns associated with a stressful situation and instead focusing on helpful and constructive thoughts (Clark, 2013). This method of coping through positivity and hope involved participants restructuring their thinking into an optimistic outlook, which reduced the stressor’s impact. Overall, participants relied upon a range of coping strategies to deal with pandemic-related stress and selected the most applicable strategy based on the stressor.

Parczewska (2021) reported that participants predominantly employed a task-oriented approach, rather than emotion-focused or avoidance-based strategies, an observation that aligns closely with our findings. Although research typically suggests that problem-focused coping leads to more beneficial outcomes than emotion-focused coping (Stanton et al., 1994), it is contingent on the individual perceiving the problem as solvable. When individuals do not believe that they can directly address the source of distress, problem-focused coping may not be as effective. In this study, many of the stressors’ that parents faced such as restrictions on movement and in-person interaction were beyond their control. As a result, parents reported relying on coping strategies aimed at managing the emotions tied to these stressors (emotion-focused) rather than directly solving them (problem-focused).

In addition to problem-focused coping, parents also engaged in long-term adaptive strategies, adjusting routines and schedules to manage ongoing challenges and maintain stability during the pandemic. Several studies have reported aspects similar to adaptation through the adjustment of their daily life (e.g., Adams et al., 2021; October et al., 2021). Among our participants, these adaptations appeared to occur organically and developed over time during the pandemic to manage their daily routines during the pandemic, thereby providing relief and stability within their lives.

Berry and Sam (1997) describe adaptation as a way for individuals to align their ways to a changing environment and thus reduce the negative experiences associated with a lack of transition, thereby maintaining a sufficient quality of life. Within the current study, adaptation was aligned with the alteration and incorporation of aspects within parents’ daily life and was a way for participants to deal with long-term stressors during the COVID-19 pandemic, an element that appeared to occur instinctively and habitually, linking with the concepts of resilience.

Masten (2001) makes two judgements about resilience, that there has to be evidence of a risk and a positive outcome based on the risk. There was sufficient evidence from the current study that despite the considerable adversity, that is, the large-scale changes to daily life which precipitated stress, participants still found a way to adapt and manage these stressors to make their time more manageable.

While coping strategies provided parents with immediate relief from pandemic-related stress, they primarily addressed short-term challenges rather than the ongoing demands of daily life. To manage these persistent challenges, parents also developed adaptive routines and adjusted their daily schedules, allowing them to maintain stability and continuity during the pandemic. These adaptive strategies illustrate a process of resilience, whereby parents responded to the risks posed by disruptions and stressors with positive adjustment, aligning their behaviours and routines to effectively navigate the COVID-19 pandemic.

Limitations and recommendations

One of the limitations of the study is that we did not ask participants for detailed information about their demographic profiles. Also, despite efforts to involve parents from diverse preschools spanning different socio-economic standings, the participants in our study do not adequately reflect the broader demographic composition of the South African population. Most participants were white-collar workers who, despite facing challenges, could transition to remote work. In contrast, blue-collar workers, unable to shift to online platforms, faced greater adversity during the pandemic (Haffejee et al., 2024). Therefore, it appeared that this financial privilege at least partially buffered the participants against some of the more severe consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is necessary for further research to be conducted among this demographic group. Despite the challenges parents faced with online learning, the long-term impact of preschool closures on children remains unaddressed, which is especially important considering how influential the early years are for childhood development. Also, despite the advantages and widespread adoption of remote work post-pandemic, parents faced challenges in maintaining work–life boundaries.

This study is one of the only investigations of parental stress during the pandemic among South African participants. Stressors such as future pandemics may be unavoidable and the findings of the present study may be of use in the context of future challenges. Parents who struggle to cope under conditions of adversity may benefit from psychological support while others who cope well may be resources to their peers and family members. The effectiveness of such approaches await further investigation.