The Impact of Family Functioning and Mental Health Condition on the Child's Behavioral Problems

Abstract

We examined correlates of mental health conditions among family members and explored the effects of mothers' and fathers' mental health and family functioning on their child's behavioral problems. Participants were 119 couples in China, of whom the majority were parents in 1-child families. These parents reported their own anxiety and depression symptoms, behavioral problems of their child, and perceived family functioning. Results indicated that the mental health condition of the father, mother, and child were closely correlated, and that parental mental health was positively correlated with family functioning. Further, the couples had relatively high consistency in their ratings of family functioning and the child's behavioral problems, with rating discrepancies being positively correlated with mental health conditions. Finally, paternal mental health made a unique contribution to prediction of the child's behavioral problems when father-reported data were used, but this effect was not significant when the mother-reported data were applied.

The relationship between adverse childhood experiences, family functioning, and mental health problems among children and adolescents: a systematic review

“…A mother's MH problems were also seen to exert more of an influence on child MH outcomes than a father's MH (e.g. Wang & Zhou ). This is possibly because mothers are frequently the primary caregivers and therefore exert more influence over the child's MH.…”

“…Most of the studies followed a cross‐sectional survey design (n = 21), all the studies were quantitative, and approximately one‐third were conducted in the USA (n = 14). The mean age of the total sample of children included was 10.8 years, and four studies did not report the mean age of the sample (Goldfeld & Hayes ; Piche et al ., ; Roustit et al ., ; Wang & Zhou ). Sample sizes ranged from 40 to 5,607 participants (Faust & Stewart ; Yen et al , ); and most studies (n = 23) reported a relatively equal gender representation.…”

“…Also, poorer FF was more prevalent among families with children who had MH concerns compared to families of children without MH concerns (Cussen et al, 2015). All but three articles that documented no association between certain aspects of FF and MH also documented an association between other aspects of FF and MH within the same study (Agha et al, 2013;Wang et al, 2014;Wang & Zhou 2015), indicating that certain aspects of FF were more strongly associated with MH than others, or that the relationships were dependent on other factors such as differences between reporters. For example, Faust and colleagues (2008) found that mothers of children with psychosis compared to mothers of children with PTSD reported their families to be significantly less cohesive and more conflictual, while there were no differences observed from the children's perspective.…”

Role of Perceived Social Support on Self-Esteem and Aggression among Adolescents

“…Indeed, Wang &Zhou (2016) revealed that, the continuity of family connections and a secure emotional base is crucial for the positive development of young people and protective factors against a range of health risk behaviors. (27) .…”

Structure and determinants by the equality in women

“…КЉУЧНЕ РЕЧИ: партнерска афективна везаност; једнородитељство; ставови жена. УВОД РОДИТЕЉСТВО У скоро свим 9исци@линама које изучавају ро9иNељсNво (социоло:ија, @е9а:о:ија, ан9ра:о:ија), као најважнија каракNерисNика @оро9ице исNиче се њена важносN за емоционални и социјални развој 9еNеNа (Mirabile, 2014;Turney, Lee, & Mehta, 2013;Norona & Baker, 2014;Wang & Zhou, 2015). Неа9екваNан о9нос са ро9иNељима може 9овесNи 9о @роKлема у вршњачким :ру@ама: а:ресив-носN, 9е@ресивносN, @овлачење и слична сNања, као и оKлици @онашања 9еNеNа у великој мери @овезани су у@раво са неси:урним афекNивним о9носима ро9иNеља и 9еце (Coleman, 2003).…”