Examining the Impact of Pandemic Stressors on Parental Stress in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Double ABC-X and Moderated Mediation Model Analysis of Family Mechanisms

This study investigated family mechanisms through which pandemic stressors affect parental stress using the Double ABC-X model of family stress and adaptation. Specifically, this study examines the moderated mediation effects to test the conditional indirect influence of a moderating variable (i.e., family resilience beliefs) on the relationship between a predictor (i.e., stressor pile-up) and an outcome variable (i.e., stress) through potential mediators (i.e., family satisfaction and relationship satisfaction). The analytic sample included 9269 participants from 10 sub-Saharan countries. The findings do not support the hypothesis predicting a second-stage moderating mediation model where family resiliency beliefs would moderate the second-stage indirect paths of family satisfaction and relationship satisfaction, creating conditional indirect effects. The findings suggest that interventions should involve community-based programmes that emphasize family support and access to resources while recognizing the complex interplay between family resilience beliefs, cultural values and beliefs of African families.