Mental Health of Parents and Primary Caregivers by Sex and Associated Child Health Indicators

Abstract

Poor mental health among parents or primary caregivers is associated with poor mental and physical health in children; however, research often excludes the mental health of male caregivers including fathers. This analysis examines associations between caregiver mental health by caregiver sex and child health indicators (i.e., child's general health; child's history of diagnosed mental, behavioral, or developmental disorders (MBDDs)). Using parent-reported data on 97,728 US children aged 0-17 years from the National Survey of Children's Health (2016-2018), we estimated nationally representative, weighted proportions of children with parents or primary caregivers with poor mental health by caregiver sex, prevalence ratios (PR), and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for child health indicators by caregiver mental health and sex. Nationally, 7.2% of children had at least one caregiver with poor mental health; 2.8% had any male caregiver; and 5.1% had any female caregiver with poor mental health. Compared to children with all male caregivers with good mental health, children with any male caregiver with poor mental health were more likely to have poor general health (PR: 4.9, CI: 3.0-8.0) and have ≥1 diagnosed MBDDs (PR: 1.9, CI: 1.7-2.1); this remained significant when controlling for caregiver and household characteristics. Findings were similar when comparing children with any female caregiver with poor mental health to children with all female caregivers with good mental health. Our findings support previously published recommendations that promoting mental health among all types of caregivers by addressing gaps in research on fathers and male caregivers may further promote child health and wellness.

Maternal Mental Health Status Is Associated with Weight-Related Parenting Cognitions, Home Food Environment Characteristics, and Children’s Behaviors

“…BMI also did not differ between clusters, indicating a lack of support for the hypothesis that maternal mental health and child BMI were inversely related. Similar to previous research, as hypothesized, the current study findings show that as mothers’ mental health status became poorer, children’s general health and mental health quality of life declined [ 100 , 101 ]. Additionally, inadequate sleep and poor sleep quality are correlated with poorer mental health, which is consistent with the current study’s findings [ 4 , 5 , 47 ].…”

“…Maternal mental health is closely related to that of children in the family and can affect children’s development and behaviors [ 100 , 101 ]. Maternal mental health is linked to the inability to effectively or consistently parent, in turn contributing to negative weight-related parenting behaviors, including an increased likelihood of providing children with low-nutrient-dense foods and giving less encouragement at family mealtimes [ 16 , 23 , 95 ].…”

Children's unmet need for mental health care within and outside metropolitan areas

“…27 Caregiver mental health is closely linked with their child's mental health, and caregivers with poorer mental health are more likely to report unmet needs for mental health services for their child. 28,29 Finally, expanding the definition of unmet need to include children who needed specialty mental health services but could not get these services in the past 12 months (Appendix Table 1), we also found that unmet needs were more prevalent among children without insurance. This finding is similar to previous research linking insurance coverage to unmet needs for health care services.…”

Parental loneliness, parental stress and child mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: Variations by cumulative socioeconomic risk

“…As such, identifying risk factors associated with child mental health within the pandemic context should be a focus in research and public policy ( Chadi et al, 2022 ). Research shows that parental mental health struggles were associated with that of their children ( Wolicki et al, 2021 ) and that the COVID-19 context has been especially difficult for parents. For instance, in Canada, parents with children living at home reported higher levels of alcohol consumption, suicidal thoughts, anxiety and depression in comparison to those without children under their care ( Gadermann et al, 2021 ).…”