Coventry University

Academic Institute

Faith MartinDr Cain Clark

B3862

Research has shown that there is a link a mother's and a child's mental health. There is a pattern that where mothers have poor mental health, their children are at risk of developing mental health difficulties also. Research with parents of children with mental health difficulties has shown how distressing this can be for parents. For example, parents of young people who self-harm report significant distress related to their child's difficulties. We seek to explore the link between child mental health and subsequent maternal mental health. We focus on the mother as this is where there is most available data within ALSPAC. This will help us understand whether mothers are at risk of developing significant distress after their child has reported clinical levels of mental health difficulties.

1) One of few academic papers to explore this topic, examining the potential impact of child mental health on maternal mental health. This contributes to the academic field by further developing a narrative of the importance of considering different/ bi-directional relationships and viewing parents as part of a family that may need support. 2) Working with our funder, the local CCG, if relationships are identified, we will have direct impact by reporting to them any findings relating to social and demographic variables that are associated to greater risk of mothers reporting mental health problems after their child has developed difficulties. This has potential impact to inform the CCG about any characteristics that may be important for planning services that are accessible to these families - for example, should we identify that mothers who work full-time are at greater risk of developing significant distress, we could recommend the importance of ensuring support for families is made available outside of working hours.

13/09/2021