Juggling Financial Stress And Caregiving, Parents Are 'Very Not OK' In
The Pandemic
Back in early spring, Khristan Yates worked as a quality assurance analyst
at a marketing company and loved her job. "I had one of the best jobs of my
career," recalls Yates, 31, a resident of Chicago.
Yates, who's a mother of two children, had moved into a bigger apartment
just before the pandemic hit because she wanted to give her kids more space.
At the time, she felt like she was "at the top of her world."
But as the economic effects of the pandemic hit the marketing industry
among others, she lost her job in May.
Yates is among the 60% of households with children across the country that
have lost jobs, or businesses, or have had wages reduced during the
pandemic, according to a poll released Wednesday by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan
School of Public Health.
The poll also found 74% of households with children that made less than
$100,000 report facing serious financial problems.
"We're seeing skyrocketing rates of job losses and food insecurity and
stress," says Anna Johnson, a developmental psychologist at Georgetown University. "I think it will
be very hard for these families who've lost income and jobs to get back to
where they CONTINUE READING: Parents Who've Lost Jobs Struggle To Manage Their Own Stress — And Their
Kids' : Shots - Health News : NPR