Parents' Fatalism Beliefs Moderate the Association Between COVID-19 Stressors and Internalizing Symptoms in...

The COVID-19 pandemic disparately affected Hispanic/Latino families and influenced child mental health. To understand risk in cultural context, we examined whether parental fatalistic beliefs, i.e. to what degree the future is predetermined or controllable, interacted with family pandemic stress to influence child internalizing problems.

Mexican-heritage parents (N = 301; n_mothers = 228, n_fathers = 72, n_other = 1; 61% US born) with a target child between ages 5-17 (M_age = 11.45, SD_age = 3.69) were recruited via Qualtrics Panels. Participants completed an online survey on family pandemic experiences, parent fatalistic beliefs, and child internalizing problems. Linear regression models tested unique (i.e. main) and joint (i.e. interactive) effects of pandemic stress and fatalism on child internalizing.

Parents' fatalistic beliefs and pandemic stress jointly influenced parents' ratings of child internalizing (b = 2.31, 95% CI = [0.98, 3.64]). The harmful effect of pandemic stress on children's internalizing was amplified at higher endorsement of fatalistic beliefs. We also explored five fatalism subscales (luck, helplessness, divine control, internality, and core fatalism), and found significant interactions with pandemic stress for luck (b = 2.51, 95% CI = [1.08, 3.64]), helplessness (b = 2.42, 95% CI = [0.93, 3.91]), and core fatalism (b = 1.75, 95% CI = [0.39, 3.10]). These interactions operated similarly to the fatalism composite model. Parents' divine control and internality beliefs (more control and self-efficacy) were not individually or jointly associated with child internalizing symptoms.

Parents' fatalistic beliefs may amplify the noxious effects of stress on children's internalizing. Enhancing parent self-control and self-efficacy beliefs may reduce the effects of stress on children's internalizing, though targeting social inequities should also be a priority.