*3.4. Did Rates of Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Di*ff*erentially Increase Significantly for those Caring for Children or Older Aging Parents during the Quarantine Period?*

Rates of mild, moderate, severe, and very severe symptoms on DASS-21 scales for parents caring for children, adults caring for older aging parents, and those caring for neither type of dependant are given in the last three panels of results in Table 3. To determine if there was an association between being a parent to a child, caring for an older aging parent, or having neither sort of dependent, on the one hand and symptom rates before and during quarantine on the other, 3 × 2, Group x Time, chi square tests were conducted on frequencies of symptoms outside the normal range in the three groups on both occasions.

There were significant Group × Time associations for both depression and anxiety from pre-quarantine to the quarantine period for parents caring for children, adults caring for older aging parents, and those caring for neither type of dependant (*p* < 0.001, respectively) but not specifically for stress. As reported through a detailed breakdown of the percentage of caseness and severity in Table 3, this reflects an increased severity of symptoms over time as a result of entering the quarantine period.

**Figure 1.** Outcomes for the summed score of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress subscales (DASS-21) prior to, and during, the quarantine. Group stratification is illustrated as: Left: Total cohort with color demarcation; (**A**) parents with a child only i.e., no older aging parents [R2 = 0.490]; (**B**) both a child and an older aging parent [R2 = 0.352]; (**C**) older aging parents only [R2 = 0.283]; (**D**) neither a child nor an older aging parent [R2 = 0.403].


*J. Clin. Med.* **2020**, *9*, 3481

Figure 1.
