Child related strain and maternal mental health: a longitudinal study

• Published in: Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica Vol. 105; no. 4; pp. 301 - 309
• Main Authors: Nærde, A., Tambs, K., Mathiesen, K. S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford UK Blackwell Publishers 01-04-2002; Blackwell
• Subjects: Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Analysis of Variance; anxiety; Biological and medical sciences; Child Rearing - psychology; Child, Preschool; Depression; Female; Humans; Infant; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Medical sciences; Mental Health; Mood disorders; mother child relation; Mother-Child Relations; Norway; Parenting - psychology; psychological; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; stress; Stress, Psychological - psychology; Norway; Europe; Social environment; Socioeconomic status; Education level; Mental health; Professional status; Mother child relation; Mother; Family environment; Evolution; Female; Anxiety; Child; Age; Public health; Human; Mood disorder; Preschool age; Health; Prediction; Depression; Stress; Symptomatology; Marital status; Life events; Follow up study; Sociodemographic factor; Comparative study; Social support
• ISSN: 0001-690X; 1600-0447
• DOI: 10.1034/j.1600-0447.2002.1010.x

Objective: To explore how normal age‐related behaviour patterns and medical status affect maternal mental health in children aged 1.5–4 years.
Method:& Data were collected via questionnaires from a population‐based sample. Outcome variable was the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL‐25). Multiple regression analyses were used to assess the extent to which changes in the predictors (sociodemographic variables, chronic strains, negative life events, maternal somatic health and social support) explained changes in maternal distress.
Results: Changes in strain related to children and child care‐taking predicted changes in maternal mental distress stronger than the other explanatory variables. Only effects of changes in child care‐taking were significant for both time periods.
Conclusion: Changes in maternal symptoms of anxiety and depression appear to be influenced by changes associated with children's behaviour, their medical status and child care‐taking arrangements.