Trajectories of perceived household chaos and youth health outcomes across the COVID-19: insights from individual, dyadic, and triadic family analyses.

INTRODUCTION

The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly disrupted youth development; however, limited studies have explored the diverse patterns of household environments and their implications for youth and family well-being. This study aimed to identify trajectories of household chaos during the COVID pandemic and to investigate their associations with youth mental and physical health outcomes.

METHODS

Data were collected from 506 adults (M age = 42.8, SD age = 9.15) and 93 youth (M age = 14.5, SD age = 1.63). Using a retrospective cross-sectional design, participants reported their experiences across the COVID-19 pandemic. Parents and youth provided reports of household chaos for pre-, mid-, and post-COVID timepoints and on youth health-related outcomes at pre- and post. Latent Class Growth Analysis (LCGA), Analysis of Covariance, and Analysis of Variance were used.

RESULTS

Using parent and youth self-report data, LCGA identified three trajectories of household chaos (low-chaos "thriving," 35.2%; high-chaos "worsening," 24.5%; and moderate-chaos "resilience," 40.3%). Dyadic and triadic analyses revealed differing parent and youth household chaos perceptions. Within the same family, younger youth showed greater concordance with parents compared to older youth. Youth on the high-chaos worsening trajectory exhibited higher levels of behavioral problems, emotional-behavioral dyscontrol, emotional distress-anxiety, sleep disturbance, and lower levels of positive affect and well-being, compared to one or both other trajectory groups.

DISCUSSION: Findings highlight meaningful differences in parent and youth pandemic-related household chaos experiences, which are linked to youth health outcomes. Public health intervention and prevention programs should account for both shared and nonshared family experiences to better support youth well-being as part of future pandemic preparedness.