ArticleResearch on child and adolescent psychopathology2023
Maternal Mental Health and Children's Problem Behaviours: A Bi-directional Relationship?
Article in Research on child and adolescent psychopathology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- The impact of immigration detention on mental health: an updated systematic review.BMC psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- The effectiveness of mobile app-based interventions to improve parental mental health: a meta-analysis.BMC psychology · 2026Pooled it
- Perinatal Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms and Maternal Parenting Behavior During the First Three Years Postpartum: A Systematic Review.Depression and anxiety · 2025Pooled it
- Associations Between Maternal Cumulative Psychological Distress and Child Subsequent Social Competence: The Role of Early Childhood Education and Care and Social Networks.Scandinavian journal of psychology · 2026Article
- Longitudinal Trajectories of Maternal Stress for Mothers with Intellectual Disabilities and Borderline Intellectual Functioning: Evidence from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- The Association Between the Impact of COVID-19 and Internalizing Problems Among Children and Adolescents with ADHD: The Moderating Role of Parental Anxiety.Child psychiatry and human development · 2026Article
- Emotional and Behavioral Problems in Children and Adolescents: The Role of Parental Mental Illnesses: A Cross-Sectional Study.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Parental Burnout and Early-Childhood Behavioral Problems: Longitudinal Associations Beyond Maternal Depression.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Children's Problem Behaviors and Maternal Parenting Psychological Flexibility: A Longitudinal Moderated Mediation Model.Psychology research and behavior management · 2026Article
- Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms and Associated Factors Among Reproductive Age Women in Khwisero, Western Kenya: A Longitudinal Community-based Study.The Psychiatric quarterly · 2025Article
- Testing Bidirectional Associations Between Maternal and Child Depression During Emerging Adolescence.JAMA pediatrics · 2025Article
- The temporal alignment of mental health consultations across family members: a study of Norwegian adolescents, their parents, and siblings.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2025Article
- Identifying and Taking Action on the Protective and Risk Factors of Black Maternal Mental Health: Protocol for Community-Based Participatory Study.JMIR research protocols · 2025Article
- Is There a Vicious Cycle Between Parental Burnout and Parent-Adolescent Conflict? A Three-Wave Within-Family Analytic Approach.Family process · 2025Article
- Maternal Stress Mediates Association of Infant Socioemotional Development with Perinatal Mental Health in Socioeconomically Vulnerable Peruvian Settings.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Exploring the experiences and strategies for promoting the well-being of first-time Black Canadian women transitioning to motherhood: A community-based participatory study protocol.Women's health (London, England)Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Transactional theory and the coercive family process model have illustrated how the parent-child relationship is reciprocal. Emerging research using advanced statistical methods has examined these theories, but further investigations are necessary. In this study, we utilised linked health data on maternal mental health disorders and explored their relationship with child problem behaviours via the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire for over 13 years. We accessed data from the Millennium Cohort Study, linked to anonymised individual-level population-scale health and administrative data within the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank. We used Bayesian Structural Equation Modelling, specifically Random-Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Models, to analyse the relationships between mothers and their children. We then explored these models with the addition of time-invariant covariates. We found that a mother's mental health was strongly associated over time, as were children's problem behaviours. We found mixed evidence for bi-directional relationships, with only emotional problems showing bi-directional associations in mid to late childhood. Only child-to-mother pathways were identified for the overall problem behaviour score and peer problems; no associations were found for conduct problems or hyperactivity. All models had strong between-effects and clear socioeconomic and sex differences. We encourage the use of whole family-based support for mental health and problem behaviours, and recommend that socioeconomic, sex and wider differences should be considered as factors in tailoring family-based interventions and support.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.