Mental Health Status of Adult Offspring of Anxious and Non-Anxious Mothers

Abstract

The present study examined the mental health status of adult offspring of anxious and non-anxious mothers assuming that adult offspring of anxious mothers would significantly report more depression, anxiety, stress and anger as compared to adult offspring of non-anxious mothers. The present comparative study was done on mothers and their adult offspring in Faisalabad city. Demographic Information form, Anxiety Subscale of Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (DASS-21) and Anger subscale of Aggression Questionnaire (AQ) were used for data collection. Descriptive statistics and independent samples t-test were computed for data analysis. Of the one hundred and seventy six mothers, total 102(57.95%) reported significant anxiety, while 74 (42.04%) seemed to experience normal anxiety in daily life. Results obtained through independent samples t-test revealed that adult offspring of anxious mothers experienced more depression (t= 2.38, df =174, p = 0.01, d = 0.37), anxiety (t = 2.87, df = 174, p = 0.005, d =0.45), stress (t = 3.60, df = 174, p = .000, d = 0.56) and anger (t = 4.86, df = 174, p = .000, d =0.75) than offspring of non-anxious mothers. It is concluded that maternal anxiousness is one of the contributing factors to mental health problems (i.e., depression, anxiety, stress and anger) among offspring. Findings of the present study have implications for families, communities and mental health professionals as well.