Census: Married People Less Stressed During Coronavirus Shutdowns

Worry and stress rose to a historic high during the Covid-19 panic, at least since the financial crisis of 2008-2009, according to recent survey evidence from Gallup. Parents of young children had an added responsibility of teaching their children while schools and daycare were closed.

Compared with parents who handled these alone, married parents spent more time teaching their children at home, according to an early June survey from the Census Bureau that tracks Covid-19’s effects on households across the country. In addition, married parents are doing a relatively better job coping with this crisis emotionally.

Since early March, a vast majority of households with school-age children in the U.S. have been affected by school closings. According to the same Census survey conducted during May 7 to 12, 42 percent of parents reported that their school-age children’s classes were cancelled and 73 percent said classes had moved to a distance-learning format. The share of parents who reported no change in their children’s school was less than 1 percent.

It was important for children to continue their education during school closings, and parents played a key role in helping them. Findings from the Census survey suggest that, on average, married households reported close to 14 hours per week (2 hours a day) in teaching activities with children. In households with never-married parents, children spent an average of 11 hours a week (about 1 and a half hours a day) in educational activities. Even after controlling for differences in education, race, and age, married parents still allocated two hours a week more to teaching activities with children than their counterparts who were not married.

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