Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

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

  • Published:
Maternal and Child Health Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

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.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. US Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau. (2010). The mental and emotional well-being of children: A portrait of states and the nation 2007. Rockville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services.

  2. Merikangas, K. R., He, J. P., Burstein, M., et al. (2010). Lifetime prevalence of mental disorders in U.S. adolescents: Results from the national comorbidity survey replication—Adolescent supplement (NCS-A). Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 49(10), 980–989.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Grupp-Phelan, J., Harman, J. S., & Kelleher, K. J. (2007). Trends in mental health and chronic condition visits by children presenting for care at U.S. emergency departments. Public Health Reports, 122(1), 55–61.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Kelleher, K. J., McInerny, T. K., Gardner, W. P., et al. (2000). Increasing identification of psychosocial problems: 1979–1996. Pediatrics, 105(6), 1313–1321.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Patel, V., Flisher, A. J., Hetrick, S., et al. (2007). Mental health of young people: A global public-health challenge. Lancet, 369(9569), 1302–1313.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Case, A., Fertig, A., & Paxson, C. (2005). The lasting impact of childhood health and circumstance. Journal of Health Economics, 24(2), 365–389.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Leckman, J. F. (2002). Tourette’s syndrome. Lancet, 360(9345), 1577–1586.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Saxena, S., Thornicroft, G., Knapp, M., et al. (2007). Resources for mental health: Scarcity, inequity, and inefficiency. Lancet, 370(9590), 878–889.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Washington Kids Count, Human Services Policy Center. (2003). Family matters: Mental health of children and parents. Seattle, Washington: Evans School of Public Health, University of Washington.

  10. Hatton, C., & Emerson, E. (2009). Poverty and the mental health of families with a child with intellectual disabilities. Psychiatry, 8(11), 433–437.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Kim, H. H., Viner-Brown, S. I., & Garcia, J. (2007). Children’s mental health and family functioning in Rhode Island. Pediatrics, 119(Suppl 1), S22–S28.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Herring, S., Gray, K., Taffe, J., et al. (2006). Behaviour and emotional problems in toddlers with pervasive developmental disorders and developmental delay: Associations with parental mental health and family functioning. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 50(Pt 12), 874–882.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Lesesne, C. A., Visser, S. N., & White, C. P. (2003). Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in school-aged children: association with maternal mental health and use of health care resources. Pediatrics, 111(5 Part 2), 1232–1237.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Daniels, J. L., Forssen, U., Hultman, C. M., et al. (2008). Parental psychiatric disorders associated with autism spectrum disorders in the offspring. Pediatrics, 121(5), e1357–e1362.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Beardslee, W. R., Versage, E. M., & Gladstone, T. R. G. (1998). Children of affectively ill parents: A review of the last 10 years. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 37(11), 1134–1141.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Biedel, D. C., & Turner, S. M. (1997). At risk for anxiety: I. Psychopathology in the offspring of anxious parents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 36(7), 918–924.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Cantor, R. M., & Geschwind, D. H. (2008). Schizophrenia: Genome, interrupted. Neuron, 58(2), 165–167.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Smalley, S. L. (1997). Genetic influences in childhood-onset psychiatric disorders: Autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. American Journal of Human Genetics, 60(6), 1276–1282.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Hallmayer, J., Cleveland, S., Torres, A., et al. (2011). Genetic heritability and shared environmental factors among twin pairs with autism. Archives Genetic Psychiatry, E1–E8 (advance online publication).

  20. Wille, N., Bettge, S., Ravens-Sieberer, U., et al. (2008). Risk and protective factors for children’s and adolescents’ mental health: results of the BELLA study. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 17(Suppl 1), 133–147.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Croen, L. A., Grether, J. K., Yoshida, C. K., et al. (2011). Antidepressant use during pregnancy and childhood autism spectrum disorders. Archives Genetic Psychiatry, E1–E9 (advance online publication).

  22. Blumberg, S. J., Foster, E. M., Frasier, A. M., et al. (in press). Design and operation of the National Survey of Children’s Health, 2007. Vital Health Statistics Series 1, 1–109. Draft retrieved from http://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Health_Statistics/NCHS/slaits/nsch07/2_Methodology_Report/NSCH_Design_and_Operations_052109.pdf.

  23. Granados, G., Puvvula, J., Berman, N., et al. (2001). Health care for Latino children: Impact of child and parental birthplace on insurance status and access to health services. American Journal of Public Health, 91(11), 1806–1807.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Singh, G. K., Kogan, M. D., & Dee, D. L. (2007). Nativity/immigrant status, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic determinants of breastfeeding initiation and duration in the United States, 2003. Pediatrics, 119(Suppl 1), S38–S46.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Weathers, A. C., Minkovitz, C. S., Diener-West, M., et al. (2008). The effect of parental immigration authorization on health insurance coverage for migrant Latino children. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 10(3), 247–254.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Weathers, A. C., Novak, S. P., Sastry, N., et al. (2008). Parental nativity affects children’s health and access to care. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 10(2), 155–165.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Yu, S. M., Huang, Z. J., & Kogan, M. D. (2008). State-level health care access and use among children in US immigrant families. American Journal of Public Health, 98(11), 1996–2003.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Pedlow, S., Luke, J. V., & Blumberg, S. J. (2007). Multiple imputation of missing household poverty level values from the national survey of children with special health care needs, 2001, and the national survey of children’s health, 2003. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Goodman, A., Fleitlich-Bilyk, B., Patel, V., et al. (2007). Child, family, school and community risk factors for poor mental health in Brazilian schoolchildren. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 46(4), 448–456.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Alegria, M., Canino, G., Shrout, P. E., et al. (2008). Prevalence of mental illness in immigrant and non-immigrant U.S. Latino groups. American Journal of Psychiatry, 165(3), 359–369.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Burgos, A. E., Schetzina, K. E., Dixon, L. B., et al. (2005). Importance of generational status in examining access to and utilization of health care services by Mexican American children. Pediatrics, 115(3), e322–e330.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Huang, Z. J., Yu, S. M., & Ledsky, R. (2006). Health status and health service access and use among children in US immigrant families. American Journal of Public Health, 96(4), 634–640.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Nadeem, E., Lange, J. M., Edge, D., et al. (2007). Does stigma keep poor young immigrant and U.S.-born Black and Latina women from seeking mental health care? Psychiatric Services, 58(12), 1547–1554.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Amanda C. Bennett.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bennett, A.C., Brewer, K.C. & Rankin, K.M. The Association of Child Mental Health Conditions and Parent Mental Health Status Among U.S. Children, 2007. Matern Child Health J 16, 1266–1275 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-011-0888-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-011-0888-4

Keywords

Navigation