Investigating the strengths and difficulties of children from families with a parental mental illness

Abstract

This study investigated whether two groups of children from families with a parent with a mental illness were different to a normative group of children (no parental illness) on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Of the total 833 children aged 8-12 years, there were 101 children of parents with a mental illness from the general community, 134 children of parents with a mental illness who attended an intervention program and a normative sample of 598. The intervention group scored significantly higher than the other groups on all difficulties. In addition, the general community group with a parental illness scored significantly higher than those without a parental mental illness on the Total Difficulties, Emotional Symptoms and Hyperactivity subscales. These were important findings as the community and intervention children with a parent with a mental illness scored at two and three times respectively the normative level of risk to their mental health. Combined with previous risk estimates, children with a parent who attend mental health services are between two to five times more likely than the norm to be scoring in the clinical range on the SDQ. Recommendations are made regarding child morbidity, mental health policy, programs, workforce and future research.