COVID-19 hardship and mental health in Chilean parents: the role of disaster exposure and family resilience

<b>Background:</b> The negative mental health effects of the pandemic on families are well documented, while factors that buffer or increase such effects still need further investigation. Previous exposure to adversity might increase the negative impact of pandemic experiences. On the other hand, family resilience may protect against these negative effects, and may also be regarded as a mediator explaining the negative association between pandemic hardship and mental health.<b>Objective:</b> The current study focused on the effects of COVID-19-related hardship on parental mental health. We evaluated the impact of the individual experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health among Chilean parents from a community sample, who were exposed in varying levels to a destructive earthquake and tsunami approximately 10 years earlier.<b>Method:</b> Participants (<i>N </i>= 219) completed online measures of pandemic hardship, mental health, disaster hardship related to the past earthquake, and family resilience. We examined the moderating role of disaster exposure and the moderating and mediating role of family resilience on the current impact of the pandemic on mental health.<b>Results:</b> Individual exposure levels of COVID-19 hardship were associated with mental health complaints. Both previous disaster hardship and family resilience were associated with mental health complaints. However, previous disaster hardship did not moderate the relationship between pandemic hardship and mental health complaints, nor did family resilience moderate or mediate it.<b>Conclusions:</b> These results align with the evidence of the negative emotional impact of pandemic-related stressors, and propose family resilience and past disaster exposure as relevant predictors of mental health during the sanitary emergency. Findings are discussed in the broader social context in Chile and warrant adjusting public policies towards those underserved groups heavily affected by the pandemic.