Sarah O. Meadows (Princeton University) Sara S. McLanahan (Princeton University) Jeanne Brooks-Gunn (Columbia University)
Abstract
The association between parental mental health problems and child wellbeing has rarely been examined in the context of non-traditional families. Using the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), this analysis exploits the full range of parent relationship types, including married, cohabiting, and non-resident relationships, to examine the effects of having one parent with major depressive disorder (MDE) and/or generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and two parents with MDE/GAD on child’s behavior problems at age three. We find that maternal mental illness is associated with increased odds of child’s anxious/depressed, attention deficit, and oppositional defiant disorders, regardless of family structure, whereas the effect of paternal psychopathology depends primarily on fathers’ residential status. We find some evidence of a multiplicative effect associated with having two ill parents, but only when fathers are coresident. Overall, the negative impact of dual-parent psychopathology appears to be additive. Among coresident parents, results do not vary by whether parents are married or cohabiting, and among non-coresident parents, they do not different by the level of father involvement. The findings suggest that mothers’ mental health is ultimately more important than fathers’ for healthy child development.
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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing. in its series Working Papers with number
926.