Parenting-Related Stressors and Self-Reported Mental Health of Mothers With Young Children

• DOI: 10.2105/ajph.2006.088161
• Publication Date: 2007-05-31T01:19:17Z
• Authors: Ritesh Mistry; Gregory D. Stevens; Harvinder Sareen; Roberto De Vogli; Neal Halfon
• Keywords: Adult; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Chi-Square Distribution; Infant; Mothers; Adult; Chi-Square Distribution; Child, Preschool; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Humans; Infant; Logistic Models; Mothers; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Risk Factors; Stress, Psychological; United States; Mother-Child Relations; Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health; Mother-Child Relations; United States; 3. Good health; 03 medical and health sciences; Cross-Sectional Studies; Logistic Models; 0302 clinical medicine; Risk Factors; Child, Preschool; Humans; Female; Stress, Psychological

Objectives. We assessed whether there were associations between maternal mental health and individual and co-occurring parenting stressors related to social and financial factors and child health care access. Methods. We used cross-sectional data from the 2000 National Survey of Early Childhood Health. The 5-item Mental Health Inventory was used to measure self-reported mental health. Results. After we controlled for demographic covariates, we found that the following stressors increased the risk of poor maternal mental health: lack of emotional (odds ratio [OR] = 3.4; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.0, 5.9) or functional (OR=2.2; 95% CI=1.3, 3.7) social support for parenting, too much time spent with child (OR=3.5; 95% CI=2.0, 6.1), and difficulty paying for child care (OR=2.3; 95% CI=1.4, 3.9). In comparison with mothers without any parenting stressors, mothers reporting 1 stressor had 3 times the odds of poor mental health (OR = 3.1; 95% CI = 2.1, 4.8), and mothers reporting 2 or more stressors had nearly 12 times the odds (OR = 11.7; 95% CI = 7.1, 19.3). Conclusions. If parenting stressors such as those examined here are to be addressed, changes may be required in community support systems, and improvements in relevant social policies may be needed.