The Interplay Between Female Caregiver Proactive Coping, Stress, and Adaptive Caregiver Personality on Early Adolescent Internalizing Symptoms During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Moderated-Mediation Model

Abstract

Ample evidence demonstrates that the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with disruptive family adjustment and heightened early adolescent internalizing symptoms. The current study used a diverse sample of 259 female caregivers and early adolescents (ages 11–14) to examine the association between caregiver proactive coping, caregiver perceived stress, adaptive caregiver personality, and early adolescent internalizing symptoms. We tested whether (1) caregiver perceived stress (as an indirect effect) could explain the relationship between caregiver proactive coping and early adolescent internalizing symptoms, and (2) adaptive caregiver personality moderated the indirect effect. Moderation-mediation results revealed (1) caregiver perceived stress was a significant indirect effect in the relationship between female proactive coping and early adolescent internalizing symptoms; (2) adaptive caregiver personality moderated the indirect effect. For caregivers with lower adaptive caregiver personality, the magnitude of the indirect effect became larger. These results highlight the interplay between caregiver proactive coping, caregiver stress, and adaptive caregiver personality on adolescent internalizing symptoms.