Frontiers in Public Health (Jan 2022)

Chinese Younger Parents' Quality of Life During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Do Job Changes and Family Conflicts Matter?

  • Xiaohan Liu,
  • Yashuang Bai,
  • Ning Huang,
  • Farooq Ahmed,
  • Farooq Ahmed,
  • Muhammad Shahid,
  • Jing Guo

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.758242
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9

Abstract

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The quality of life (QoL) might have been decreased owing to social disruptions in daily life and basic functioning after the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. This work aims to examine the relationship between job changes, family conflicts, and QoL among parents during COVID-19 in China. We recruited 1,209 adults through an online cross-sectional survey in China during the COVID-19 lockdown from April 21 to April 28, 2020. Convenient and cluster sampling methods were used to recruit parents. The global health items in the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) were used as a measurement for QoL. Data were mainly analyzed by multiple linear regression with SPSS. Both marital conflict (β = −0.243, p < 0.001) and parent–child conflict (β = −0.119, p = 0.001) were negatively associated with the QoL among parents during the lockdown. Job changes moderated the relationship between marital conflict and QoL (β = −0.256, p = 0.022). In addition, the interaction effects of job changes and family conflict on QoL were significant only among fathers and one-child families. This study indicated that family conflict was a crucial factor correlated with QoL among young parents in the backdrop of the COVID-19 lockdown. Job changes could interact with marital conflict and parent–child conflict on the quality of life.

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