Intergenerational Continuity of Risk: Examining Pathways From Parental Mental Health to Children’s Behavioral Health Problems Among Families Investigated for Maltreatment

Abstract

Objective: Children exposed to maltreatment are a vulnerable population with disproportionately high rates of adverse outcomes, including internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. Parental risk characteristics, such as poor mental health, may help to explain the health and developmental trajectories of children who have experienced maltreatment. This study examined the hypothesis that specific parenting behaviors mediate the association between parental mental health and children’s behavioral health outcomes among families investigated for maltreatment. Method: We used data from parent interviews from Waves 1 and 3 of the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being II (N = 1,192) to measure parenting behavior pathways from parental mental health to children’s behavioral health. Results: Path analyses indicated statistically significant direct effects of poor parental mental health on neglectful, psychologically aggressive, and physically assaultive parenting and on children’s internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. We found statistically significant indirect effects from poor parental mental health to internalizing behavior problems through neglectful and psychologically aggressive parenting, and from poor parental mental health to externalizing behavior problems through psychologically aggressive parenting. Conclusion: Results suggest that specific parenting behaviors partially mediate the relationship between parental mental health and children’s behavioral health outcomes. Findings suggest the need to target specific parenting behaviors to reduce children’s internalizing and externalizing behavior problems and promote health and development across generations.