An examination of factors associated with low levels of resilience in parents of French school-aged children during the COVID-19 partial lockdown

Resilience has been associated with better outcomes. This study aimed to identify sociodemographic and psychological variables associated with a low level of resilience in parents in the context of the COVID-19 lockdown. A cross-sectional study including 698 French parents of school-aged children aged 8-18 years was conducted. Resilience was measured via the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS). The sociodemographic factors investigated included personal, family and community factors. Social support and the quality of interpersonal relationships were also collected. A logistic regression analysis was performed to explore significant associations between the participant characteristics and a low level of resilience. The mean BRS score was 3.5 (SD = 0.8), with 22.2% of parents classified as having a low level of resilience. The sociodemographic factors associated with having a low level of resilience included being female, living in an urban area, sharing a living space with fewer than four people, including oneself, and having individuals in the home or the family circle with confirmed COVID-19 who were not hospitalized. Older age was inversely associated with low resilience levels. In terms of psychological factors, parents with higher perceived social support and those with higher-quality interpersonal relationships with family members, colleagues at work and people in general were less likely to have a low level of resilience. Parents' resilience seems to be associated with sociodemographic and psychological factors. Identifying the factors related to a low level of resilience in parents may assist health caregivers in developing intervention approaches to improve parents' resilience.