Custodial Grandparent’s Job Loss During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Relationship With Parenting Stress and Mental Health

Abstract

Involuntary job loss during the COVID-19 pandemic adds challenges, especially for custodial grandparents that are taking care of grandchildren. Grandparents are relatively vulnerable, and they need more attention and support when facing the negative impacts of COVID-19. This study analyzed cross-sectional survey data collected from 234 custodial grandparents via Qualtrics Panels in June 2020 in the United States. After using the propensity score weighting adjustment, results from logistic and ordinary least squares regression showed that compared with grandparents that did not lose their job during the pandemic, grandparents that did had more parenting stress and worse mental health. Moderation analysis also showed that social support was a significant moderator of the relationship between job loss and mental health, but not the relationship between job loss and parenting stress. The findings and implications are discussed.

Keywords

grandparents parenting stress mental health social support COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing have affected the health, safety, and well-being of many individuals (Holmes et al., 2020). Large sectors of the economy (e.g., transportation, tourism, and hospitality) have been disrupted, resulting in involuntary job loss for a high number of workers (Montenovo et al., 2020). In the United States, the national unemployment rate had reached 14.7% by mid-April, its highest level since the Great Depression, in the 1930s. Millions of individuals have lost their jobs, and the number of unemployed has proliferated since the pandemic, from 15.9 million to 23.1 million (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2020). Involuntary job loss and resulting unemployment are significant stressors associated with financial strain (Siegel et al., 2003), psychological distress (Nomaguchi & Johnson, 2016), and other mental health outcomes (Holmes et al., 2020).

Some groups are more vulnerable than others to involuntary job loss, including older workers, women, non-Whites, and those with preexisting medical and mental health problems (Cubanski et al., 2020; Montenovo et al., 2020). Custodial grandparents, who have assumed full responsibility for grandchildren (Hayslip et al., 1998), fall into this group because they are often older and suffer from physical and mental health problems (Ehrle & Geen, 2002). These characteristics put them at higher risk of involuntary job loss compared with the general population.

The number of children raised by relatives, especially grandparents, has grown in recent years. Kinship families provide nurturing and protection to children that must be separated from their parents because of various circumstances, such as maltreatment or neglect. Most such children are raised by their grandparents, often grandmothers (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2016). Research indicates that grandparents are more likely to experience socioeconomic stress, and that caring for a child has an impact on the grandparents’ financial, physical, and psychological health (Whitley et al., 2016). Challenges include economic insecurity (Butler & Zakari, 2005), inadequate housing (Fuller-Thomson & Minkler, 2000), lack of social support (Kelley et al., 2000), declining physical health (Whitley et al., 2016), and the transition to becoming primary caregivers (Orb & Davey, 2005), which is associated with increased parenting stress (Lee et al., 2016; Xu et al., 2020).

Involuntary job loss is considered a stressful life event and is often associated with an increase in financial strain (Siegel et al., 2003), parental stress (Burgard & Kalousova, 2015), and adverse mental health effects (Canavan et al., 2020). Among low-income and working-class parents, unemployment was related to increased parenting stress for both father and mother. However, for mothers, chronic depression and frequency of engagement with children were stronger predictors of parenting stress than for fathers (Burgard & Kalousova, 2015). In the context of COVID-19, grandparents may be particularly vulnerable to losing their job. A rise in unemployment rate and grandparents’ needs to face competing demands, including financial strain, limited social interactions, and remaining at home with their grandchildren, contribute to increased parenting stress (Brown et al., 2020; Xu et al., 2020).

There is ample research literature linking job loss, in particular involuntary job loss, to poor mental health (Bubonya et al., 2017). Losing a job is correlated with stressful economic difficulties that can lead to fear, anxiety, and uncertainty (Alcover et al., 2020). Workers that lose their job exhibited more depression and a greater risk of chronic conditions than the employed (Gallo et al., 2000). In the context of COVID-19, over billions of people around the world have faced restrictions, such as banned public transport, restricted movement, and quarantine (Alcover et al., 2020). Two studies conducted after a short time into the COVID-19 outbreak found that the unemployed reported worse health and distress than the employed (Alcover et al., 2020).

Social support, however, has been found to buffer the negative outcomes of involuntary job loss. For grandparents, social support plays an important role in coping with stressors and contributing to adult physical and psychological well-being (Kelley et al., 2000). Social networks help people mitigate negative perceptions related to unemployment (Viswesvaran et al., 1999). A meta-analysis of 104 empirical studies found that unemployed workers with greater social support felt better psychologically than those without it (McKee-Ryan et al., 2005). Canavan et al. (2020) also implied that social support buffered the relationship between involuntary job loss and depression among adults. Alcover and colleagues (2020) found that social network size mitigated the association between insecurity and financial threat and mental health. These studies denote the importance of social support as a resource to cope with stressful experiences, which may affect mental health.

More social support and positive coping strategies help families promote resilience (Metzger, 2008), which refers to the ability to achieve positive outcomes when facing adversities (Masten, 2001). From a strengths-based perspective, researchers found that resilient grandparents perceive caregiving as a rewarding experience, and they are more likely to have a positive life attitude and to be socially connected (Hayslip & Smith, 2013). Therefore, although grandparents experience multiple challenges during the pandemic, resilience and resources may support them positively so that they may have less stress and better mental health.

This study relies on the family stress theory that was developed by Hill (1949). Hill’s model describes how families experiencing the same stressor can react and respond with different strategies. Coping strategies are determined by both internal resources (e.g., personal characteristics) and external resources (e.g., social support; Hill, 1949), which further affect caregiver’s parenting. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought significant multilayer stress for families, and job loss during the pandemic is a significant stressor that grandparents may experience. Previous studies have found that unemployment is significantly associated with increased family stress (Pignault & Houssemand, 2018). Personal characteristics and social support may function in the impact of grandparents’ job loss on their parenting stress and mental health. Providing emotional or financial supports may help caregivers overcome difficulties, while lacking of social support may increase caregivers’ anxiety and stress (Wu & Xu, 2020).

To our knowledge, no study has been conducted on families in which children are being raised by grandparents that had involuntarily lost their jobs during the pandemic. Therefore, the aim of this study is to fill this gap by examining parenting grandparents and the relationship between their involuntary job loss and parental stress and mental health, and the moderating role of social support in that relationship. Our research hypotheses are as follows:

Hypotheses 1: Experiencing involuntary job loss is associated with increased parenting stress.

Hypotheses 2: Experiencing involuntary job loss is associated with higher odds of experiencing mental health problems.

Hypotheses 3: Social support moderates by reducing an influence of involuntary job loss on parenting stress and mental health.

Method

Data and Sample

Data were collected from custodial grandparents in June 2020 through Qualtrics panels. Qualtrics has a database that includes people willing to participate in survey research in the United States. Grandparents were provided written informed consents through Qualtrics and then completed a cross-sectional survey regarding material hardship, parenting stress, social support, resilience, and mental health. Respondents were asked the following screening questions to assess their eligibility: (a) if they were currently a primary caregiver of their grandchildren, (b) if their grandchildren were living in their household, (c) if the children’s biological parent(s) were not living in the same household most of the time, (d) if they were U.S. residents, and (e) if they were born before 1985 (in general, it is less likely for a respondent to be a grandparent who is younger than 35 years old). A respondent was excluded for a “no” answer to any of the questions. For grandparents that had more than one grandchild in their household, all questions related to the oldest grandchild who was younger than 18 years old.

In total, 362 grandparents met the inclusion/exclusion criteria and completed the survey. Grandparents who did not report their job status and those who did not have a job before the COVID-19 pandemic were excluded, leaving a sample size of 234. Therefore, all the grandparents in the sample had a job before the pandemic. Among this sample, 76 lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic, and 158 grandparents did not. Participants were compensated for less than US $14, which was determined and provided by Qualtrics. The average length of time to finish the survey was 13 min. All the answers were anonymous. This study was determined as exempt for human subjects by our University’s Institutional Review Board.

Measures

Dependent variables

This study has two dependent variables: grandparents’ parenting stress and mental health. One question in the survey was used to measure grandparents’ parenting stress during the pandemic: “I feel my parenting stress has been increased since COVID-19 pandemic.” Responses to this question were as follows: 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = somewhat disagree, 3 = somewhat agree, and 4 = strongly agree. A dichotomous variable of parenting stress (1 = yes and 0 = no) was generated using three as a cutoff value, so scores ≥3 meant grandparents had experienced increased parenting stress, and <3 that they had not.

Grandparents’ mental health was measured by a short-version Mental Health Inventory−5 (MHI-5; Stewart et al., 1988), which is a brief version of the 38-item MHI developed by Veit and Ware (1983). Prior psychometric research indicated MHI-5 was a valid and reliable measure in a population-based sample (Cuijpers et al., 2009; Elovanio et al., 2020). It has been widely used to measure individuals’ psychological well-being (Berwick et al., 1991). It assesses individuals’ mood during the past month (feel calm and peaceful, and have been a happy person) and psychological distress (feel nervous, downhearted and blue, and feel down). Responses are on a 6-point Likert-type scale (1= none of the time and 6 = all of the time). We reverse-coded three psychological distress items. The average score of the five items was used, with a higher score indicating better mental health. The reliability of this scale was .59 in this study.

Independent variable

Because this study sought to compare grandparents that lost their jobs due to COVID-19 to those that did not, the independent variable was job loss. It was measured by asking whether grandparents lost their jobs during the pandemic given that all the participants in the sample had jobs before the pandemic. A dichotomous variable was generated to indicate job loss. If the grandparents had a full-time or part-time job before the pandemic and they lost it during the pandemic, this was coded as 1. If they did not lose their job, this was coded as 0.

Moderator

Social support was measured by the Duke-University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Functional Social Support Questionnaire (Broadhead et al., 1989). This scale shows good reliability and validity when used among grandparent foster caregivers (e.g., Simmons, 2005). It has eight questions answered on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1 = I get much less than I would like and 5 = I get as much as I like). Sample items were as follows: “I get love and affection” and “I get chances to talk to someone I trust about my personal or family problems.” A dichotomous variable was developed based on the average score of the items. An average score larger than 3, indicating a high level of social support, was coded as 1. If the average score was equal to or less than 3, indicating a low level, this was coded as 0. The Cronbach’s alpha was .93 for this sample.

Control variables

Grandparents’ resilience was measured by the Brief Resilience Scale (Smith et al., 2008), which captures the likelihood of recovering from stress and has been used in other studies (e.g., Taylor et al., 2020). The scale has six items (e.g., I tend to bounce back quickly after hard times) with a 5-point Likert-type scale (1= strongly disagree and 5= strongly agree). A dichotomous variable was developed based on the average score of the items. If the average score was larger than 3, indicating high resilience, this was coded as 1. If the average score was equal to or less than 3, indicating low resilience, this was coded as 0. The reliability was .73 in this sample.

Grandparents’ demographic characteristics: Trigger events for grandparents to take care of grandchildren were controlled in the analysis. Dummy variables (1 = yes and 0 = no) were generated for each event, including child maltreatment, parental incarceration, mental illness, death, substance abuse, intimate partner violence, economic needs, and other reasons. Categorical control variables included grandparents’ race (White, Black, Hispanic, and Other), gender (1 = female and 0 = male), marital status (1 = not married and 0 = married), education (1 = below college and 0 = college and above), number of children in the household (1 = more than one child and 0 = one child), years of care (1 = more than 1 year and 0= less than 1 year or 1 year), and licensed caregiver (1 = yes and 0 = no). Continuous control variables included grandparents’ age and physical health (5-point scale: 1 = poor and 5 = excellent), with higher scores indicating better physical health. Child’s demographic characteristics included age, gender (1 = female and 0 = male), and physical and mental health measured by 5-point scales. Higher scores indicate better physical and mental health.

Data Analysis

Descriptive analyses were conducted to examine grandparents’ characteristics. Then logistic regression was conducted to examine the relationship between grandparents’ or grandchildren’s characteristics with grandparents’ job loss. Because grandparents were not randomly assigned to groups (lost job vs. not lost job), differences in outcomes could be due to covariates rather than job status. To control for selection bias and mitigate concerns of endogeneity, a propensity score (PS) analysis was used to balance the two groups on the controlled covariates (Freedman & Berk, 2008). PS weighting has been considered an effective and efficient method among various PS strategies, because it handles non-normally distributed outcomes differently from other matching methods without decreasing the sample size (Imbens & Wooldridge, 2009).

Our analysis used the following PS weighting procedures. (a) A logistic regression was conducted to estimate the PS. (b) Weights developed from the estimated PSs were used in bivariate regressions or logistic regressions to do the balance check between two groups. (c) In the regression models, the PSs were used as regression weights to estimate the average treatment effect (ATE) of job loss on grandparents’ parenting stress and mental health. The PS weights for ATE are expressed as 1/p for grandparents that lost job during the pandemic and 1/(1 – p) for grandparent that did not lose job, where p is the estimated PS. The adjusted logistic regression (Model 1) and ordinary least squares (OLS) regression (Model 2) were conducted to examine Hypotheses 1 and 2. Then, moderation analysis (Model 3) was conducted to examine Hypothesis 3. All analyses were conducted using Stata 15.

Results

Sample Characteristics

The descriptive results in Table 1 show that for the total sample, the most common trigger event for grandparents taking care of grandchildren was parental economic needs (37.18%), followed by parental substance abuse (14.96%), parental mental illness (10.68%), and parental death (10.68%). The percentage of participants that were White (64.96%) was larger than for other races or ethnicities (26.07% Hispanic, 7.69% Black, and 1.28% Other). About half of the grandparents were female (50.43%), the average age was 54.25 years (SD = 6.4), and the majority were married (77.78%). About half (51.71%) had an educational level of college and above, and about half (50.43%) were licensed kinship caregivers. The average grandparents’ physical health score was 3.83 out of 5 (SD = 0.97). More than half (53.85%) had more than one child in the household and the average number of children in the household was two. The majority had taken care of grandchildren for more than 1 year (82.48%). More than half had a high level of resilience (52.56%) and social support (60.26%). More than half of participants reported having increased parenting stress during the pandemic (60.68%). In terms of child characteristics, the average child was 8.69 years old (SD = 4.36), and more than half were boys (55.13%). Average child’s physical and mental health scores were 4.49 (SD = 0.7) and 4.36 (SD = 0.84) out of 5, respectively.

Table 1.

Demographic Characteristics and Logistic Regression Results.

Characteristics	Total sample (N = 234)		Grandparents that lost job (n = 76)		Grandparents that did not lose job (n = 158)		Results of logistic regression treating job loss as an outcome
Characteristics	%/M	SD	%/M	SD	%/M	SD	Odds ratio	p value
Trigger event
Child abuse and neglect	5.56		6.58		5.06
Parental incarceration	5.98		7.89		5.06		0.21	ns
Parental mental illness	10.68		22.37		5.06		0.91	ns
Parental death	10.68		3.95		13.92		0.09	.013
Parental substance abuse	14.96		17.11		13.92		0.27	ns
Parental intimate partner violence	6.41		5.26		6.96		0.2	ns
Parental economic needs	37.18		27.63		41.77		0.19	.032
Other	8.55		9.21		8.23		0.67	ns
Grandparent race
White	64.96		47.37		73.42
Black	7.69		10.53		6.33		2.49	ns
Hispanic	26.07		39.47		19.62		2.22	ns
Other	1.28		2.63		0.63		34.14	.022
Grandparent gender
Male	49.57		53.95		47.47
Female	50.43		46.05		52.53		1.26	ns
Grandparent age	54.25	6.4	54.12	5.96	54.31	6.61	0.99	ns
Grandparent marital status
Married	77.78		80.26		76.58
Not married	22.22		19.74		23.42		1.57	ns
Grandparent education
Below college	48.29		50		44.74		1.35	ns
College and above	51.71		50		55.26
Grandparent physical health	3.83	0.97	3.96	0.97	3.77	0.96	1.36	ns
Number of children in the household
One child	46.15		32.89		52.53
More than one child	53.85		67.11		47.47		2.8	.011
Years of care
One year or less than 1 year	17.52		13.16		19.62
More than 1 year	82.48		86.84		80.38		1.61	ns
Licensed kinship caregivers
Yes	50.43		67.11		42.41		2.54	.038
No	49.57		32.89		57.59
Child age	8.69	4.36	9.64	4.08	8.23	4.43	1.08	ns
Child gender
Male	55.13		64.47		50.63
Female	44.87		35.53		49.37		0.76	ns
Child physical health	4.49	0.7	4.26	0.82	4.59	0.61	0.58	ns
Child mental health	4.36	0.84	4.2	0.92	4.44	0.79	0.9	ns
Grandparent resilience
High	52.56		38.16		59.49		0.57	ns
Low	47.44		61.84		40.51
Grandparent social support
High	60.26		46.05		67.09		0.47	ns
Low	39.74		53.95		32.91
Grandparent parenting stress
Yes	60.68		68.42		56.96		3.92	.002
No	39.32		31.58		43.04

Note. ns = non-significant.

Table 1 also shows the descriptive results for those that had not lost their jobs during the pandemic and those that had (see Table 1). The results of the logistic regression model demonstrate good model fit (Table 1), as indicated by the model’s chi-square statistic (χ² = 81.13, p < .001). The following factors were statistically significant predictors of grandparents’ job loss: parental death (odds ratio [OR] = 0.09, p = .013), parental economic needs (OR = 0.19, p = .032), other races compared with White (OR = 34.14, p = .022), more than one child in the household (OR = 2.8, p = .011), licensed kinship caregivers (OR = 2.54, p = .038), and having parenting stress (OR = 3.92, p = .002).

Balance Check

Table 2 shows the balance check results for each observed covariate between the two groups before and after adjusting for PS weights. Results show that before PS weighting, there were significant differences between the two comparison groups on 13 covariates (see Table 2). After adjusting by using PS weights, no significant differences were found between the two groups, indicating that balances on covariates were achieved through PS weighting.

Table 2.

Results of Balance Check Before and After Using the Propensity Score Weights.

Characteristics	Significance tests between grandparents that lost job and those that did not lose their job
	Before propensity score weighting		After propensity score weighting
	Coefficient	p value	Coefficient (ATE)	p value
Trigger event
Child abuse and neglect	0.28	ns	−0.22	ns
Parental incarceration	0.47	ns	−0.23	ns
Parental mental illness	1.69	<.001	−0.33	ns
Parental death	−1.37	0.03	0.18	ns
Parental substance abuse	0.24	ns	−0.13	ns
Parental intimate partner violence	−0.3	ns	0.23	ns
Parental economic needs	−0.63	.037	0.19	ns
Other	0.12	ns	−0.17	ns
Grandparent race				ns
White	−1.12	<.001	0.33	ns
Black	0.55	ns	−0.26	ns
Hispanic	0.98	.001	−0.31	ns
Other	1.45	ns	0.37	ns
Grandparent gender	−0.26	ns	0.41	ns
Grandparent age	−0.19	ns	0.67	ns
Grandparent marital status	−0.22	ns	−0.67	ns
Grandparent education	−0.21	ns	−0.22	ns
Grandparent physical health	0.19	ns	0.05	ns
Number of children in the household	0.81	.005	0.47	ns
Years of care	1.48	ns	1.22	ns
Licensed kinship caregivers	1.02	<.001	−0.27	ns
Child age	1.41	.02	−0.05	ns
Child gender	−0.57	.047	0.08	ns
Child physical health	−0.33	.001	0.06	ns
Child mental health	−0.25	.037	0.06	ns
Grandparent resilience	−0.87	.002	0.31	ns
Grandparent social support	−0.87	.002	0.2	ns

Note. ATE = average treatment effect; ns = non-significant.

Relationship Between Job Loss and Parenting Stress

Results from the logistic regression (see Model 1 in Table 3) showed that other things being equal, grandparents that lost their jobs during the pandemic had significantly higher odds of reporting parenting stress than those that did not lose their job (OR = 5.35, p < .001). Several covariates also showed a significant relationship with parenting stress. For example, grandparents with the trigger event of parental substance abuse or parental economic needs had significantly higher odds of having parenting stress than those whose trigger event was child abuse and neglect (OR = 7.52, p = .013; OR = 6.45, p = .018, respectively). Compared with White grandparents, Hispanic grandparents had lower odds of having parenting stress (OR = 0.35, p = .036).

Table 3.

Results From Logistic Regression or OLS Regression After Propensity Score Weighting Adjustment.

Characteristics	Parenting stress			Mental health
	Model 1			Model 2			Model 3
	Odds ratio	SE	p value	Coefficient	SE	p value	Coefficient	SE	p value
Lost job
Yes	5.35	2.43	<.001	−0.26	0.11	.017	0.15	0.18	ns
No
Trigger event
Child abuse and neglect
Parental incarceration	2.02	2	ns	0.03	0.34	ns	0.02	0.32	ns
Parental mental illness	2.04	1.68	ns	−0.17	0.35	ns	−0.1	0.32	ns
Parental death	3.36	3.07	ns	−0.66	0.35	ns	−0.58	0.32	ns
Parental substance abuse	7.52	6.1	.013	−0.22	0.32	ns	−0.17	0.29	ns
Parental intimate partner violence	1.99	1.97	ns	−0.62	0.33	ns	−0.54	0.3	ns
Parental economic needs	6.45	5.07	.018	0.06	0.32	ns	0.1	0.29	ns
Other	2.74	2.36	ns	−0.14	0.36	ns	−0.18	0.33	ns
Grandparent race
White
Black	0.66	0.41	ns	0.01	0.21	ns	−0.01	0.19	ns
Hispanic	0.35	0.18	.036	−0.01	0.15	ns	0.01	0.15	ns
Other	0.16	0.34	ns	0.38	0.39	ns	0.36	0.36	ns
Grandparent gender
Male
Female	0.69	0.29	ns	−0.35	0.13	.011	−0.33	0.13	.014
Grandparent age	0.96	0.03	ns	0.01	0.01	ns	0.01	0.01	ns
Grandparent marital status
Married
Not married	0.76	0.32	ns	0.06	0.16	ns	0.05	0.15	ns
Grandparent education
Below college	1.28	0.56	ns	0.05	0.12	ns	0.05	0.12	ns
College and above
Grandparent physical health	0.68	0.18	ns	−0.05	0.07	ns	−0.06	0.07	ns
Number of children in the household
One child
More than one child	0.73	0.3	ns	0.03	0.11	ns	0.06	0.12	ns
Years of care
One year or less than 1 year
More than 1 year	0.37	0.19	ns	−0.36	0.16	.028	−0.43	0.17	.01
Licensed kinship caregivers
Yes	1.86	0.79	ns	−0.42	0.13	ns	−0.39	0.13	.002
No
Child age	0.91	0.05	ns	−0.02	0.02	ns	−0.01	0.02	ns
Child gender
Male
Female	0.53	0.24	ns	0.23	0.13	ns	0.24	0.13	ns
Child physical health	1.7	0.55	ns	−0.11	0.1	ns	−0.09	0.1	ns
Child mental health	0.97	0.2	ns	0.13	0.08	ns	0.15	0.07	.037
Grandparent resilience
High	1.8	0.65	ns	0.43	0.12	<.001	0.45	0.12	<.001
Low
Grandparent social support
High	1.21	0.48	ns	0.43	0.14	.002	0.76	0.16	<.001
Low
Parenting stress				−0.29	0.12	.014	−0.27	0.11	.017
Lost Job × Social Support							−0.69	0.23	.003

Note. OLS = ordinary least squares; ns = non-significant.

Relationship Between Job Loss and Grandparent Mental Health

The results from the OLS regression (see Model 2 in Table 3) showed that all other things being equal, grandparents that lost their jobs during the pandemic had an average mental health score that was 0.26 points lower than the score for those that did not lose their job (p = .017). In addition, average female mental health score was 0.35 points lower than male (p = .011). Grandparents that had taken care of grandchild for more than 1 year had an average mental health score 0.36 points lower than those that had taken care of grandchild for 1 year or less (p = .028). Grandparents with high resilience had an average mental health score 0.43 points higher than those with low resilience (p < .001). Grandparents with high social support had an average mental health score 0.43 points higher than those with low support (p = .002). Grandparents that reported parenting stress had an average mental health score 0.29 points lower than those that did not report parenting stress (p = .014).

Moderation

Model 3 in Table 3 shows that social support significantly moderated the relationship between job loss and mental health (B = −0.69, p = .003). Figure 1 shows that for both groups of grandparents no matter whether they lost their jobs or not during COVID-19, receiving more social support was associated with better mental health. However, the impact of job loss on mental health was weaker among grandparents with high social support than those with low social support. In other words, social support had positive effects on grandparents’ mental health regardless of their job loss status, but social support buffered more mental distress among grandparents that did not lose their jobs during the pandemic than those that lost jobs. However, this study did not find significant moderating role of social support in the relationship between job loss and parenting stress, so this result was not reported in the table.

Figure 1.

Interaction between job loss and social support on mental health.

Discussion

This study hypothesized that grandparents’ involuntary job loss during the pandemic was associated with increased parenting stress (Hypothesis 1) and worse mental health (Hypothesis 2). It also hypothesized that social support moderated the relationship between job loss and parenting stress/mental health (Hypothesis 3). This study uses PS analysis to adjust for selection bias and then uses logistic regression, OLS regression, and moderation analysis to examine the research hypothesis. The results support Hypotheses 1 and 2, and partially supports Hypothesis 3.

Our findings indicate that job loss has a significant relationship with the parenting stress among grandparents. Unexpected job loss, as a stressor during these uncertain times, increases financial strain, which can result in increased strain on parenting (Nomaguchi & Johnson, 2016). Brown et al. (2020) found that job loss was a major threat to increase parenting stress among biological parents with children under age 18 during COVID-19. Grandparents may experience more financial challenges compared with biological parents, so unexpected job loss could negatively affect their parenting stress. During the pandemic, some grandparent families have experienced food insecurity, housing instability, utility hardship, mortgage/rent hardship, and medical hardship during the pandemic, which significantly contributes to parenting stress (Parnham et al., 2020; Xu et al., 2020).

The results further indicate a negative relationship between involuntary job loss during the COVID-19 pandemic and grandparents’ mental health. This is consistent with Canavan and colleagues (2020) and Gallo et al. (2000), as they found a positive association between job loss and older adults’ depressive symptoms and mental health outcomes, respectively. Recent research indicates that minorities, people with a lower level of education, and those whose jobs require more interpersonal contact are more likely to lose jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic (Montenovo et al., 2020). Job insecurity would contribute to grandparents’ worse mental health and increased parenting stress during the pandemic (Gallo et al., 2000).

Consistent with previous studies (Canavan et al., 2020), our results indicate that social support is a protective factor against grandparents’ mental health problems. It may be possible that receiving instrumental and non-instrumental support from friends, neighbors, and community could mitigate the psychological consequences of job loss (Edwards & Benson, 2010). Furthermore, social support moderates the relationship between job loss and grandparents’ mental health, although the buffering is stronger for those that did not lose a job during COVID-19. This result is aligned with family stress theory (Hill, 1949), which illustrates how stressors and resources affect the family well-being. Our results indicate that job loss is a stressor to family and it has negative impacts on grandparents’ parenting stress and mental health, which is aligned with family stress theory. This theoretical framework is also supported by the results that social support provides additional resources to grandparents, which buffers the relationship between stressful life events, such as job loss, and mental health outcomes. In addition to social support, our results also find that grandparents’ resilience is a protective factor of their mental health, which is consistent with prior research that resilient grandparents may perceive life stressors positively and cope with stress effectively (Hayslip & Smith, 2013; Tang et al., 2015).

In addition, this study finds several covariates contributing to grandparents’ parenting stress and mental health. For example, grandparents that decided to raise grandchildren due to parental substance abuse and economic needs were more likely to be associated with increased parenting stress than those whose triggering events were child abuse and neglect. Perhaps this is because these grandparents may have to deal with the child’s biological parents’ substance issues and economic stress when raising the child (Baldock, 2007), which would increase their parenting stress and diminish their mental health. In addition, Hispanic grandparents were less likely to experience increased parenting stress than their White counterparts. This may be because it is part of Latin culture that grandparents live with or raise grandchildren, so they may not perceive raising grandchildren as stressful (Fuller-Thomson & Minkler, 2007). Results also suggest that raising grandchildren for more than 1 year were associated with worse mental health. Furthermore, this study found that increased parenting stress was associated with worse mental health, which is also consistent with previous research (Sharda et al., 2019).

This study advances our understanding of the relationship between grandparents’ job loss and their parenting stress and mental health during COVID-19 pandemic. Using a PS weighting strategy makes the analysis more rigorous. However, several limitations should be acknowledged. First, this study uses a convenience sampling strategy, which limits the generalizability of the findings. The sample was largely comprised of grandparents who racially and ethnically identified as non-Hispanic White. As COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted racial/ethnic minorities (Kirby, 2020), the relationship between job loss and grandparents’ parenting stress and mental health may be stronger for minority groups than for our sample. Second, this study uses a cross-sectional design, so no conclusion can be made regarding the long-term impacts of job loss during the pandemic on grandparents’ parenting stress and mental health. Third, because PS adjustment relies on a set of covariates to model the two comparison groups’ selection process, it cannot adjust for unobserved covariates. Therefore, hidden selection bias may exist in the analysis, given the limited covariates identified in the data.

This study suggests important implications for practice amid COVID-19. As involuntary job loss has a deleterious influence on grandparents’ parenting stress and mental health, this study highlights the importance of providing financial support to kinship families. This support would be provided via federal stimulus checks, financial assistance services, universal employee assistance programs, or instrumental support from family members, friends, and community. In addition, the results of this study imply that we should strengthen social support and resilience among grandparents, as they are protective factors for parenting stress and mental health. Particularly, social support shows a buffering effect against the adverse effect of job loss on grandparents’ mental health, which could be enhanced via peer support groups (Campbell et al., 2012; Strozier, 2012). To improve grandparents’ parental and psychological well-being, accessible mental health services should be provided. For grandparents themselves, particularly those grandmothers that raise children for more than 1 year, taking time to practice self-care and manage stress might help decrease their mental distress.

Footnotes

Authors’ Note

IRB Approval Number: Pro00100671; Approval Date: May 29, 2020; Review Type: Exempt; IRB Campus: University of South Carolina.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the College of Social Work, University of South Carolina.

ORCID iD

Qi Wu

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