Parenting-Related Stressors and Self-Reported Mental Health of Mothers With Young Children
Ritesh Mistry, PhD, MPH,
Gregory D. Stevens, PhD, MHS,
Harvinder Sareen, PhD, MPH,
Roberto De Vogli, PhD, PsyD, MPH and
Neal Halfon, MD, MPH
At the time of this study, Ritesh Mistry, Gregory D. Stevens, and Harvinder Sareen were with the Center for Healthier Children, Families, and Communities, University of California, Los Angeles. Roberto De Vogli is with the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, England. Neal Halfon is with the Center for Healthier Children, Families, and Communities, University of California, Los Angeles.
FIGURE 1——Probability of poor mental health for all possible combinations of parenting stressors: National Survey of Early Childhood Health, 2000.
Note. T = too much time spent with child, F = lack of functional support, E = lack of emotional support, P = had trouble paying for child care. Poor mental health was defined as scores below the 20th percentile on the 5-item Mental Health Inventory. As a means of measuring emotional and functional support for parenting, parents were asked whether there was someone they could "turn to for day-to-day emotional help with parenting" (emotional support) and "count on to watch your child if you need a break" (functional support). Parents responded yes or no to each item. The number at the base of each bar represents the proportion of the total weighted sample in that profile category.
aProbabilities were adjusted for child age, maternal age, maternal race/ethnicity, maternal education, household income, maternal marital status, maternal employment, and number of children in the household.
