Breaking down under lockdown
Depression high among dads
When hard lockdown hit last March, a 35-year-old Cape Town mother and her husband found themselves in the same boat as millions of families – working from home and caring for their three children, aged between five and 15.
Two months later, the Durbanville woman was widowed when her husband succumbed to Covid-19. As she looked back on the past 17 months she told Sowetan’s sister publication, Sunday Times Daily: “I still wonder how I’ve managed to stay sane.”
She’s not alone.
A new Human Sciences Research Council study says the pressure of caring for children during the pandemic has fuelled a tidal wave of depression among parents – and especially in fathers.
Researcher Chijioke Nwosu found a stronger relationship between childcare and depressive symptoms in men than women in both waves. “[This] may not be unconnected with the fact that cultural norms have historically viewed childcare as largely a woman’s job,” he said.
“When men are forced by circumstances like Covid-19 to spend time on childcare above the norm, it may result in elevated risk of depressive symptoms.”
Nwosu, who analysed data from the National Income Dynamics Study-Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey, said hunger and perceiving oneself to be at risk of contracting Covid-19 were also significantly associated with worse mental health.
Those who felt that childcare impeded them from searching for work, particularly men, were likely to be depressed.
When the Cape Town mother – who did not want to be identified – became a single parent, she found it overwhelming.
“Not only did I have to deal with the death of my spouse, but I had to continue working and care for my children who were also grieving.
“It was a lot to deal with … so much so that my two older kids had to suspend their online classes for two months. My five-year-old son, who was doing Grade R last year, had to drop out completely as I was not coping at all.”
When schools reopened in September, the woman had to juggle work meetings, keep her small business afloat and spend hours every day dropping and fetching her children from different schools and extramural activities.
“Sometimes I would just sit in the car, open my laptop and work while my eyes were flooded with tears,” she said.
Author A’Eysha Kassiem said working from home and having to look after her threeyear-old daughter during the hard lockdown had been overwhelming at times.
“Usually, we’re blessed to have a good support network with relatives such as grandparents, aunts and uncles who are happy to babysit. But all of that was taken away,” she said.
“As things started to open up again, we sent our daughter to crèche and returned to a semblance of normality, but even that was short-lived.
With the resurgence and the highly transmissible Delta variant, we have kept our child at home with us again to ride it out.”
Kassiem said she and her partner had some days when juggling work and childcare became “the longest relay, where we pass the baton of childcare back and forth while we work”.
“We’re torn between wanting to protect our child and ourselves while also wanting to ensure that she is educated, gets enough playtime, spends time outside, eats properly, naps on time … while at the same time needing to be efficient at work.”
Nwosu said there was a need for a policy response to the pandemic that would prioritise mental health of parents and caregivers.
“Measures like encouraging employers to implement flexible work schedules, encouraging greater communication between parents and school authorities in the event of further school closures and job search assistance for parents and guardians may be helpful in ameliorating the mental health effects of childcare responsibilities during the pandemic,” he wrote in PLOS One.