Exploring Parenting, Children’s Mental Health, and Service Complexity Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the mental health of children and families. As a result of the relationship between children’s mental health, parents and service use, this study sought to explore the impacts of the pandemic, age and sex on children’s mental health outcomes, parenting quality, and service complexity. Data consisted of interRAI Child and Youth Mental Health Assessments from 5,067 children and youth between the age of 4-18-years-old. Surprisingly, our findings revealed no changes in parenting quality and children’s mental health during the pandemic. Findings revealed a significant decrease in service complexity during the first few months of the pandemic. Compared to younger males, older female children were more likely to experience internalizing symptoms and less likely to display externalizing symptoms. Older children (vs. younger children) were more likely to receive low parenting quality and experience service complexity. Implications for clinicians, parents, and schools are discussed.

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