Parental mental disorders and school performance among non-immigrant and second-generation immigrant children in Sweden.

Introduction: Immigrant children are often challenged at school. School performance is an important predictor of future socioeconomic position and mental and physical health. While studies have investigated parental mental disorders as a potential factor for poor school performance, no studies have investigated this among children with foreign-born parents, i.e., second-generation immigrant children. We aimed to examine whether parental depressive, anxiety, and personality disorders, affect school performance among non-immigrant children and second-generation immigrant children in Sweden. Methods: Multiple nationwide population register data in Sweden were used. Non-immigrant children, i.e., children born to two Swedish-born parents ( Results: Parental mental disorder was associated with lower school grades for both non-immigrant and second-generation immigrant children and in both males and females. The school grades were lower among second-generation immigrant children but the effect of parental mental disorder was smaller among second-generation immigrant children than among non-immigrant children. Conclusion: Parental mental disorders affected the school performance of all children negatively. Future studies could examine what type of support at school for both second-generation immigrant children and non-immigrant children of parents with mental disorders are most beneficial.