Effects of mindful emotion regulation on parents’ loneliness and social support: A longitudinal study during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in the United States

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced unprecedented challenges and demands for parents or caregivers of children who experienced disruptions in social support and feelings of isolation. Mindful emotion regulation may be a resilient factor for parents’ psychosocial outcomes. Mindful emotion regulation refers to individuals’ inherent capacities to regulate emotions mindfully, i.e., through paying attention to one’s experiences in the present moment nonjudgmentally. Based on the theoretical and empirical literature associating mindful emotion regulation with loneliness and perceived social support, the current study tested the effects of mindful emotion regulation on later changes in perceived social support and loneliness in U.S. parents during the pandemic. Participants were 147 parents/caregivers who were living with at least one child or adolescent in their household during the pandemic in the USA. Data were collected from a national online sample at four time points: baseline (April 7–21, 2020), 30-, 60-, and 90-days later. Results of longitudinal mediational structural equation modeling showed that mindful emotion regulation was directly associated with increased perceived social support and decreased loneliness. Moreover, mindful emotion regulation was also associated with perceived social support indirectly through its effects on loneliness. Focusing on the needs of parents is important for promoting family and child wellbeing to ameliorate negative health consequences. More research is needed to elucidate whether and how mindful emotion regulation may be beneficial for parents in the social relationship domain.