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Maternal parenting stress from birth to 36 months, maternal depressive symptoms, and physical punishment to 10-year-old children: a population-based birth cohort study

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Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

This study aimed to investigate the association between parenting stress, maternal depressive symptoms, and use of physical punishment when the child is 10 years old.

Methods

Data from the Tokyo Early Adolescence Survey on early adolescents and primary caregivers (N = 4478) were used. Frequency of using physical punishment, level of depressive symptoms (Kessler Psychological Distress Scale 6), and maternal parenting stress experienced at 1, 3, 9, 18, and 36 months after birth were evaluated. Multiple linear and multinomial logistic regression analyses were conducted.

Results

Mothers (1633) who provided information on parenting stress at all the five points were included for the analysis. After controlling for the child’s age, sex, birth weight, maternal age, and annual household income, presence of maternal parenting stress at every time point, except at three months after birth, was significantly associated with an increased risk of using physical punishment with the 10-year-old. After adjusting for levels of depressive symptoms, significant associations were found between use of physical punishment and maternal parenting stress at 1 month (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.71, 95% confidence interval [Cl] 1.12–2.61) and 36 months (adjusted OR 1.70, 95% CI 1.10–2.61) after birth.

Conclusion

Maternal parenting stress experienced at 1 and 36 months after birth predicted use of physical punishment, even after adjusting for maternal depressive symptoms. Maternal support should, therefore, be provided to mothers to cope with parenting stress even three years after birth to prevent the use of physical punishment in early adolescence.

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Data availability

The data analysed in this study is subject to the following licences/restrictions: Data from TTC is archived in the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science. Collaboration in data analysis and publication will be welcome through specific research proposals sent to the research committee. The initial contact for request should be addressed to Atsushi Nishida, [nishida-at@igakuken.or.jp].

Code availability

No code was used in this study.

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Acknowledgements

This work is part of the Tokyo Teen Cohort study, and we would like to thank all researchers, investigators, and participants for their substantial support in sample collection and management. We acknowledge the support of the research team at the Mental Health Promotion Unit, Research Centre for Social Science & Medicine, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science. The funding bodies had no role in the study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication.

Funding

This study was supported by a Japan Scientific Research Grant on an Innovative Area from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT KAKENHI 23118002); a Japan Scientific Research Grant on an Innovative Area from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS KAKENHI 16H06395, 16H06398, 16K21720); a Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS KAKENHI 16K13499); a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS KAKENHI 16H03745); MEXT Grant-in-Aid for Transformative Research Areas (JP21H05171, JP21H05173 and JP21H05174); and a Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science Project Grant (Kokoronokenko H27-H31). The funding bodies had no role in the study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mental Health Promotion Unit, Research Center for Social Science & Medicine, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, 2-1-6 Kamikitazawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, 156-8506, Japan

    Junko Niimura, Miharu Nakanishi, Syudo Yamasaki, Kaori Endo & Atsushi Nishida

  2. Department of Psychiatric Nursing, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai-shi, Miyagi, 980-8575, Japan

    Miharu Nakanishi

  3. Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8655, Japan

    Shuntaro Ando, Shinya Fujikawa & Kiyoto Kasai

  4. Department of Psychiatry, Teikyo University School of Medicine, 2-11-1 Kaga Itabashi-ku, Tokyo, 173-8605, Japan

    Sho Kanata

  5. Department of Psychology, Ube Frontier University, 2-1-1 Bunkyodai, Ube City, Yamaguchi, 755-0805, Japan

    Yuko Morimoto

  6. School of Advanced Sciences, SOKENDAI (The Graduate University for Advanced Studies), Shonan Village, Hayama, Kanagawa, 240-0193, Japan

    Mariko Hiraiwa-Hasegawa

Authors
  1. Junko Niimura
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  2. Miharu Nakanishi
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  3. Syudo Yamasaki
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  4. Shuntaro Ando
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  6. Shinya Fujikawa
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  7. Yuko Morimoto
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  8. Kaori Endo
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  10. Kiyoto Kasai
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  11. Atsushi Nishida
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Contributions

Conceptualisation: JN, MN, SSY, SA, SK, SF, YM, KE, MHH, KK, AN,; Methodology: JN, MN, SY, SA, SK, SF, YM, KE, MHH, KK, AN; Formal analysis and investigation: MN, SY, KE; Writing – original draft preparation: JN; Writing – review and editing: MN, SY, SA, SK, SF, YM, KE, MHH, KK, AN; Funding acquisition: SA, MHH, KK, AN; Resources: SA, KK, AN; Supervision: MN, SY, SA, SK, SF, YM, KE, MHH, KK, AN.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Miharu Nakanishi.

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Conflict of interest

There are no conflicts of interest to declare.

Consent to participate

All study participants provided informed consent, and the study design was approved by the appropriate ethics review boards.

Consent for publication

Consent for publication was taken from all authors.

Ethical approval

The authors confirm that all procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national and institutional committees on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. The study protocol was reviewed and approved by the institutional review boards of the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science (Approval number: 12–35), SOKENDAI (Graduate University for Advanced Studies [Approval number: 2012002]), and the University of Tokyo (Approval number: 10057).

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Niimura, J., Nakanishi, M., Yamasaki, S. et al. Maternal parenting stress from birth to 36 months, maternal depressive symptoms, and physical punishment to 10-year-old children: a population-based birth cohort study. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 57, 2207–2215 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-022-02319-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-022-02319-6

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