How stress levels for parents have doubled

Home-schooling duties heap pressure on couples

COUPLES looking after children during the school shutdown have suffered a wave of anxiety, a report has found.

Stress and worry levels among married couples more than doubled in the first weeks of lockdown as they struggled to balance home schooling and working from home, happiness assessments said.

Lockdown reversed the usual pattern of well-being in which married people are routinely happier and less anxious that those who live alone or are divorced or separated. The findings from the Office for National Statistics also show that those over the age of 65 became much more anxious after the start of lockdown.

The worry among older people, possibly a result of knowing the elderly are more vulnerable to Covid-19, has eased as the weeks have gone by, the ONS said.

Its report is powerful evidence that the closure of schools has damaged not just children and teenagers shut out of lessons and exams but also parents who must now cope with extra burdens.

Dawn Snape, of the ONS, said: ‘Our figures show that the equivalent of 19million adults in Britain report high levels of anxiety.

‘One particularly striking finding is that 39 per cent of people who are married or in a civil partnership reported high levels of anxiety.

‘This compares with 19 per cent pre-pandemic. It may in part be because of the challenges of home schooling alongside work and other responsibilities.’

She added: ‘Prior to the coronavirus pandemic we consistently saw lower anxiety ratings in those aged 65 years and older but now we are seeing the highest levels of anxiety amongst this group in lockdown.’

The ONS asked more than 6,000 people about how anxious and lonely they felt and whether they felt safe at home.

At the end of last year the average score out of ten for anxiety was 3. But by the end of March the average anxiety level had shot up to 5.2.

Since official well-being surveys began nine years ago married couples have always shown lower levels of anxiety than others.

But in April surveys showed that 39 per cent of married people said they were feeling high anxiety, compared to 37 per cent of divorcees, 36 per cent of single people and 32 per cent of widowers.

The report said that nearly one in four married couples are trying to school children at home, against only one in ten single, separated or widowed people.

ONS analyst Hugh Stickland said: ‘We know that loneliness is a key factor in those with high anxiety and this could be a factor among some of the older age group, as well as a natural concern for their health.

‘People who are married or in civil partnerships are more likely to be home schooling and this, combined with other pressures... could account for the unusual level of anxiety in this group.’

‘Loneliness is a key factor’