The impact of childhood parental quality on mental health outcomes in older adults

Objective: Parental bonding is cited as a determinant of mental health outcomes in childhood, adolescence and early-mid adulthood. Examination of the long-term impact for older adults is limited. We therefore examine the long-term risk of perceived poor parental bonding on mental health across the lifespan and into early-old age.

Methods: Participants (N = 1255) were aged 60–64 years of age and drawn from the Australian Life Histories and Health study. Quality of parental bonding was assessed with the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI). Self-reported history of doctors’ mental health diagnoses and current treatment for each participant was recorded. Current depression was assessed with the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression-8 (CESD-8). Due to known gender differences in mental health rates across the lifespan, analyses were stratified by sex.

Results: A bi-factor analysis of the PBI in a structural equation framework indicated perceived Poor Parental Quality as a risk for both ever and current depression for both sexes. For males, Over-Protective Fathers were a risk for ever and current depression, whilst overall Poor Parental Quality was a risk for reporting current depression treatment. Whilst a number of the risks associated with current depression and treatment were attenuated when controlling for current mood, parental quality remained a significant risk for having reported a lifetime diagnosis for depression and anxiety for men.

Conclusion: Our results extend the existing literature base and demonstrate that mental health risk attributed to poor perceived parental quality continues across the life-course and into early-old age.     

The impact of parental death on college-age women

This is a small sample study of the impact of a parent's death on college-age women. These women report that the death matures them, often putting them out of step with their peers. How they cope is related to the surviving parent's ability to respond to their needs as children. Regardless of the age at the time of the death, they felt unsure about how safe the world was for them, and they needed reassurance that they could count on the surviving parent to take care of them. As they mature, they need to discover what kind of person their deceased parent was and to find a place for the deceased in their adult identity.     

The impact of COVID-19 on the lives and mental health of Australian adolescents

There has been significant disruption to the lives and mental health of adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to assess the psychological and lifestyle impact of the pandemic on Australian adolescents, using an online survey, administered during the outbreak. Self-report surveys were administered online to a sample of 760 Australian adolescents aged 12–18 years assessing impact on a range of domains including behaviour, education, relationships, lifestyle factors (exercise, technology use, and sleep), and mental health outcomes (psychological distress, loneliness, health anxiety and well-being). Results showed that three quarters of the sample experienced a worsening in mental health, since the pandemic began, with negative impacts reported on learning, friendships and family relationships. There were also high higher levels of sleep disturbance, psychological distress and health anxiety, relative to normative samples. Effects on mental health were worse among those who reported a previous diagnosis of depression and/or anxiety relative to those without no such history. Adolescents are already vulnerable to the onset of mental illness at this developmental stage, and the current research underscores the need to find rapid and accessible ways to support adolescent mental health during times of crisis.

     

Determinants of recall of parental rearing behavior. The influence of age or loss of parents by separation or death.

In a study of 562 psychiatric inpatients and 251 healthy controls, relationships between age of proband and related life events (divorce of parents, death of a parent) and the perceived parental rearing have been investigated. The inverse relationships obtained could be explained by the higher number of divorced parents among younger subjects with negatively experienced parental rearing practices on the one hand and an idealization of the parents who had died on the other hand. In psychiatric patients these relationships and differences were more pronounced pointing to the importance of parental rearing as a vulnerability factor for mental problems during adulthood. The necessity to control for age in studies of perceived parental rearing became obvious by the present results.     

Physical and mental health problems in parents of adolescents with burns--a controlled, longitudinal study

OBJECTIVE: Caregiving has been described in the literature as a risk factor for ill health in the carer. This controlled, prospective study examines the course of physical and mental health problems in parents of adolescent survivors of a mass burn incident. METHODS: Health information was extracted from electronic medical records. Continuous data were available for 1 year before and 4 years after the fire. Cohorts comprised 273 parents of survivors with burns, 199 parents of survivors without burns, and 1756 controls. Post-fire increases in health problems were compared by means of logistic regression. RESULTS: Parents of burn victims were more likely to present mental health problems during the first 2 years after the incident, when compared to the baseline. Moreover, they were more likely to present cardiovascular health problems in every year following the disaster, compared to the baseline. Increases observed in mental and cardiovascular health problems were significantly larger in parents of burn victims compared to controls. Risk factors for presenting mental health problems were female gender of the parent and a large burn size in the child. Lower socioeconomic status and female gender of the parent predicted cardiovascular health problems. CONCLUSION: Evidence gained in longitudinal studies informs on which health problems are most likely to develop in parental caregivers. In the interest of both parent and child, a family-oriented approach is proposed.     

Polygamy and mental health of adolescents

The objective is to study the influence of polygamous versus monogamous marriage on the mental health of adolescents in an Israeli Bedouin population. Pupils aged 11–18 years attending schools in Bedouin Arab communities in southern Israel were asked to complete a demographic questionnaire and a panel of psychological instruments measuring competence and behavioral problems, anxiety and depression. Findings were compared between pupils of families with one wife and pupils of families with more than one wife. The population comprised 406 pupils of mean age 14.5 years; 56% were female. Fifty-three percent were from polygamous marriages and 47% from monogamous marriages. After allowing for the influence of socioeconomic factors, there were no differences between offspring of polygamous marriages and those of monogamous marriages for any of the psychological scales. When polygamy is the accepted practice in a particular social milieu, it does not have a deleterious psychological effect on adolescents.     

The impact of parental disruption on Kuwaiti adolescents: a comparative study on children from intact and broken families

Divorce, which was once a rare phenomenon in Kuwait, now occurs in nearly one third of all marriages. The purpose of this study was to compare the differences in self-esteem, locus of control, and attitude toward parents between Kuwaiti adolescents from divorced and intact families. The results revealed that adolescents from divorced families showed higher self-esteem than adolescents from intact families. Within the divorced families, females showed higher self-esteem compared to males. There was no difference in locus of control between divorced and intact families nor were there any gender differences. Divorced fathers were evaluated negatively by their children whereas divorced mothers were evaluated positively. These data are believed to be the first of its kind from divorced families in Kuwait or the Middle East.     

The impact of state administrative practices on community mental health

State mental health authorities have progressively upgraded their planning capabilities during the 1980s. The extent these authorities use rational planning methods was found to be positively associated with the rated quality of their community mental health system, particularly in states with greater deinstitutionalization and privatization of community mental health services.Yvonne M. Vissing is with Community Organization and Research Associates.     

Quality of life and mental health of parents of children with mental health problems

Mental health of parents and their quality of life is likely to be affected when a child in the family has a psychiatric disorder. The purpose of this study is to assess quality of life and mental health of parents of referred children waiting for service at the only child psychiatric service in Iceland, with reassessment at least 3 months after first attendance to the service. In order to do so, 208 parents of 123 children waiting for psychiatric care were sent the Icelandic Quality of Life (IQL), the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30) and the CAGE screen for alcoholism. For reassessment, responders in the first phase were assessed again with the IQL and GHQ-30, at least 3 months after initiation of child psychiatric interventions. A total of 120 of the 208 parents (58%) responded in the first phase of the study, 49 fathers and 71 mothers. The mean (+/- s, standard deviation) standardized IQL T-score was for the fathers 51+/- 7.5 but significantly lower for the mothers or 45 +/-11.5 (P = 0.001) compared to normal sample of same-age women (T-scores of 50 are normal). Nearly 55% of women compared with 26% of men were psychiatric cases, scoring 5 or higher on the GHQ. According to a CAGE score of 2 and above 16% of fathers and 14% of mother abused alcohol. No significant change occurred in parents GHQ-30 or IQL before and after initiation of treatment. We conclude that mothers of children with mental disorders have poor quality of life, and high prevalence of mental disorders; hence child psychiatry clinics need to ensure that mothers receive appropriate care along with the child.