Parenting-related stressors and self-reported mental health of mothers with young children

R. Mistry, G.D. Stevens, H. Sareen, R. De Vogli and N. Halfon

American Journal of Public Health, 2007, vol. 97, issue 7, 1261-1268

Abstract: 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.

Date: 2007
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.2105/AJPH.2006.088161

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2006.088161_4

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2006.088161

Access Statistics for this article

American Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Alfredo Morabia

More articles in American Journal of Public Health from American Public Health Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Christopher F Baum ().