EFFECTS OF MATERNAL MENTAL ILLNESS ON BEHAVIORAL DIFFICULTY IN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN: DO PARENTAL PERCEPTIONS OF PARENTING ABILITY AND THE PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIP PLAY A ROLE?

Abstract

It is well known that connections between maternal mental illness and childhood mental illness exist (Laletas, Goodyear, & Reupert, 2017), although contributing factors and pathways that mediate such relationships remain understudied. The present study aimed to determine whether maternal perceptions, particularly as they relate to parenting ability and to the parent-child relationship, mediate relationships between maternal mental illness and subsequent behavioral difficulties in preschool-age children. Levels of maternal mental illness during gestation and up to one year post-birth were measured by assessing the prevalence of mental illness diagnoses and symptomatology via customized screeners, while current mental functioning was assessed via administration of the Mental Health Inventory (MHI). Suspected mediators, perceptions of parenting ability and perceptions of the parent-child relationship, were measured by the Parenting Sense of Competence Scale (PSOC) and Mothers Object Relations Scales (MORS), respectively. Current behavioral functioning for preschoolers was measured via the Preschool Pediatric Symptoms Checklist (PPSC). Current maternal mental functioning was found to be a significant predictor of child behavioral difficulties, as well as perceptions of parenting ability and perceptions of the parent-child relationship (specifically related to feelings of invasion within the relationship). Subsequently, these variables were found to be significant predictors of childhood behavioral difficulties. Predictive relationships between maternal mental illness and child behavioral difficulties were found to be significant when diagnostic receipt during gestation was characterized as a predictor, whereas non-significant relationships were confirmed when diagnoses received up to one year post-birth, symptomatology experienced during gestation, and symptomatology experienced up to one year post-birth were designated as independent variables. Maternal perceptions of parenting ability and of invasion within the parent-child relationship were found to be significant mediators between maternal mental functioning and child behavioral difficulties, with both variables further emphasizing negative associations between independent and dependent variables.