Bibliographic Details
| Title: |
Safety Nets, Maternal Mental Health, and Child Mental Health Outcomes among Mothers Living in Poverty. |
| Authors: |
Radey, Melissa (AUTHOR), McWey, Lenore M. (AUTHOR) |
| Source: |
Journal of Child & Family Studies. Mar2021, Vol. 30 Issue 3, p687-698. 12p. 3 Charts, 1 Graph. |
| Subjects: |
Women's mental health, Psychology of mothers, Child psychology, Low-income mothers, Poverty, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (Program), Single mothers, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (U.S.), Maternal health services, Evaluation of medical care, Social support, Mental health, Socioeconomic factors, Safety-net health care providers, Mental health services, Psychological stress, Longitudinal method, Children |
| Geographic Terms: |
United States |
| Abstract: |
Of the 40 million people living in poverty in the U.S., approximately 28% are single mothers and 18% are children. Low family income is linked with negative outcomes including higher rates of child mental health concerns. Due to limited public benefit availability, mothers often must rely on informal safety nets, or support from family or friends, to make ends meet. However, these informal safety nets are often coupled with burden, or obligations. To further increase their vulnerability, mothers living in poverty face higher levels of poor mental health. Also, both maternal mental health and safety nets can change over time. The purpose of this study was to examine informal safety nets, including informal support and burden, and maternal mental health and their longitudinal effects on mental health symptoms of children living in low-income families. Relying on data from the Welfare, Children, Families project, descriptive results showed change in informal safety nets, maternal mental health, and child mental health over time, with decline or multiple changes more common than improvement. Multilevel change models indicated safety nets and maternal mental health were associated with child outcomes such that mothers with minimal safety nets, higher psychological distress, and higher parenting stress had children with significantly higher mental health symptoms compared to children whose mothers had healthy safety nets and less distress. Findings speak to the importance of interventions that target both mothers and children in low-income families. Highlights: Low-income mothers' informal safety nets, or support from family or friends, change over time. Findings suggest the negative impact of weak informal safety nets and poor maternal mental health for child mental health. Findings suggest the increasing importance of informal safety nets for children's mental health as children age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| Database: |
Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection |
