Parents' mental health state and self perceived difficulties of their children

Abstract Past research shows that parents’ mental health is highly associated with children's emotional and behavioural state. The study aimed to explore and verify the hypothesis that high self perceived parental depression and anxiety levels increase observed emotional/behavioural problems in their children. The sample included 53 parent-child pairs, residents of Crete, Greece where the average age of parents (88.7% females) was 42.30 yrs (SD = 5.41) and with mean child (54.7% males) age of 9.16 (SD = 1.36), who presented for learning difficulties assessment at a community Mobile Unit. Among them, 64.2% had university degree while 24.5% had secondary education. The tools used were Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) to assess depression and anxiety symptoms in parents and Child Behaviour CheckList (CBCL /6-18 DSM-oriented scales) to assess observed emotional/behavioural problems of their children (Emotional and Somatic Problems, Anxiety, Attention Deficit, Oppositional Defiant Problems, Conduct Problems). The study found a significant positive correlation (r=.400; p=.011) between BAI (M = 11.89, SD = 8.48) and Anxiety Problems in the CBCL (M = 2.93; SD = 2.11). Additionally, there was a significant positive correlation between BDI (M = 11.44, SD = 10.63) and Emotional Problems (M = 4.22, SD = 3.34), with r = 0.427 (p=.006) as well as with Anxiety Problems (r=.427; p=.006). These results indicate a link between parents’ self perceived anxiety with the anxiety they observe in their children and parents’ self perceived depression levels with the emotional and anxiety problems they identify in their children. It seems that anxious and depressed parents tend to highly identify same characteristics in their children. For the future it is recommended to test a bigger sample and also evaluate children's own beliefs. Nevertheless, the study confirms the connection between parental and child mental health which cannot be ignored when designing family based interventions. Key messages • Understanding parents’ mental health issues could improve children’s lives and inform health policy planning. • Validated tools need to be introduced in community health setting to early detect parent mental health issues.