Mental Well-Being During Covid-19 in Adults, Mothers, and Children: Behavioral Evidence and Neural Pre-Markers

Abstract Covid-19 and associated restrictions greatly impact our physical and mental well-being, with particular challenges for children and families. We describe data from adults and children (N = 69, 41♀, age range = 7-51y, including 26 children and mothers), including pre-pandemic brain function and ~ 2’500 tests acquired during the early pandemic. We investigated (1) variability in child and adult well-being, (2) mother-child associations of mental well-being during the first months of the pandemic, and (3) the association between pre-pandemic neural brain correlates during mentalizing and later fears or subjective burden. Significant variation in mental health was observed in both, adults (e.g., anxiety, depression, or caregiver burden) and children (mood and emotional and behavioral problems). Mothers’ subjective burden of care was associated with children’s emotional and behavioral problems, while depression levels in mothers impacted children’s mood. Furthermore, friends met was a significant predictor of children’s mood during restrictions. Pre-pandemic neural correlates of mentalizing in prefrontal regions preceded later development of fear of illnesses and viruses in all participants, while temporoparietal activation preceded higher subjective burden in mothers. This study demonstrates a significant effect on, and variations in, mental well-being in adults and children during the early phase of Covid-19, emphasizes dyadic effects and possible neural precursors.