*Article* **Parental Distress and Perception of Children's Executive Functioning after the First COVID-19 Lockdown in Italy**

**Concetta Polizzi, Sofia Burgio \*, Gioacchino Lavanco and Marianna Alesi**

Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy; concetta.polizzi@unipa.it (C.P.); gioacchino.lavanco@unipa.it (G.L.); marianna.alesi@unipa.it (M.A.)

**\*** Correspondence: sofia.burgio@unipa.it

**Abstract:** The spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), and the consequential first italian lockdown to minimize viral transmission, have resulted in many significant changes in the every-day lives of families, with an increased risk of parental burnout. This study explores the impact of the first COVID-19 lockdown in Italy on parental distress and parental perceptions of children's executive functions (EFs). Participants were 308 Italian parents with children between 4 and 17 years of age; they were recruited through online advertisements on websites and social media, and they were given an online survey. The measures were: the balance between risks and resources (BR2) and the executive functioning self-report (EF). Findings of the study suggest that the most distressed parents perceived their children as less competent in EF, highlighting a cognitive fragility on attention, memory, and self-regulation (Pearson correlation coefficient, *p* < 0.05); significant differences were found between parents of children exhibiting typical and atypical patterns of development (ANOVA, *p* < 0.05). The study reinforces the need to provide families with psychological aid to support parental competence in restrictive lockdown conditions.

**Keywords:** parental distress; COVID-19; children; executive functioning
