A comparison of parenting concerns in Canada and the United States during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadian and American parents of young children have faced unique stressors, such as additional homeschooling and caregiving responsibilities, and families in both countries have experienced pandemic-related deteriorations to mental health (Gadermann et al., 2021). This paper examines the parenting concerns of parents of young children in the U.S. and Canada during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic based on data from Statistics Canada’s Parenting during the Pandemic crowdsource survey and the University of Oregon’s Rapid Assessment of Pandemic Impact on Development – Early Childhood (RAPID-EC) survey, and explores contextual factors that might explain the similarities and differences between Canadian and American parents’ pandemic experiences.