The Association of Child Mental Health Conditions and Parent Mental Health Status Among U.S. Children, 2007

• Published in: Maternal and child health journal 2012-08, Vol.16 (6), p.1266-1275
• Main Authors: Bennett, Amanda C., Brewer, Katherine C., Rankin, Kristin M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; African Continental Ancestry Group - psychology; African Continental Ancestry Group - statistics & numerical data; Anxiety; Autism; Child; Child & adolescent mental health; Child of Impaired Parents - psychology; Child of Impaired Parents - statistics & numerical data; Child, Preschool; Children; Childrens health; Cross-Sectional Studies; Disease; European Continental Ancestry Group - psychology; European Continental Ancestry Group - statistics & numerical data; Families & family life; Family Health; Female; Gynecology; Health care expenditures; Health care policy; Health Status; Hispanic Americans - psychology; Hispanic Americans - statistics & numerical data; Hispanic people; Humans; Infant; Logistic Models; Male; Maternal & child health; Maternal and Child Health; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental disorders; Mental Disorders - epidemiology; Mental Disorders - etiology; Mental Health; Parent-Child Relations; Parents & parenting; Parents - psychology; Pediatrics; Population Economics; Prevalence; Psychological aspects; Public Health; Socioeconomic Factors; Sociology; Surveys; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1092-7875; 1573-6628
• DOI: 10.1007/s10995-011-0888-4

The purpose of this study is to examine the association of child mental health conditions and parent mental health status. This study used data from the 2007 National Survey of Children’s Health on 80,982 children ages 2–17. The presence of a child mental health condition was defined as a parent-reported diagnosis of at least one of seven child mental health conditions. Parent mental health was assessed via a 5-point scale. Logistic regression was used to assess the association of child mental health conditions and parent mental health status, while examining socioeconomic, parent, family, and community factors as potential effect modifiers and confounders of the association. 11.1% of children had a mental health condition (95% CI = 10.5–11.6). The prevalence of child mental health conditions increased as parent mental health status worsened. Race/ethnicity was the only significant effect modifier of the child-parent mental health association. After adjustment for confounders, the stratum-specific adjusted odds ratios (95% CI) of child mental health conditions related to a one-level decline in parent mental health were: 1.44 (1.35–1.55) for non-Hispanic whites, 1.24 (1.06–1.46) for non-Hispanic blacks, 1.04 (0.81–1.32) for Hispanics from non-immigrant families, 1.21 (0.96–1.93) for Hispanics from immigrant families, and 1.43 (1.21–1.70) for non-Hispanic otherrace children. The effect of parent mental health status on child mental health conditions was significant only among non-Hispanic children. Parent-focused interventions to prevent or improve child mental health conditions may be best targeted to the sub-populations for whom parent and child mental health are most strongly associated.