A longitudinal examination of how mothers' and fathers' mental health and thoughts of death are related to their child's self-reported levels of parental connectedness

Background Mental health outcomes are often passed-down in families, which underscores the importance of understanding mechanisms related to positive health outcomes. We focus on parent-child connectedness, which has been shown to not only decrease children's distress but strengthens their social coping resources. Methods Utilizing four waves of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a national study of nearly 5000 mostly unmarried parents, we observed the influence of parents' depressive symptoms and thoughts of death (TOD) on their 9-year-old child's self-reported levels of connectedness to their parents. Results Mothers and fathers reported similar rates of depression over time, with peak symptomology when their child turned 3years old and declining levels as their children grew older. Compared to children whose mothers reported no symptoms, children whose mothers reported chronic depression and TOD were >7 times as likely (OR=8.13, p<0.001) to report feeling distant from their mother, even if depression and TOD were only periodic (OR=5.94, p<0.001) or if their mother only reported depression (OR=4.00, p=0.002). Fathers reporting chronic depression earlier in their child's life had the highest odds of low child-reported connectedness (OR=4.42, p<0.001), but onset later in their child's lives (ages 5 and 9) also resulted in low reported connectedness from their children (OR=2.73, p=0.048). Conclusions Given the ramifications of parental mental health for parent-child connectedness, upstream prevention approaches, such as screening in pediatricians' offices may be a key objective for mental health promotion. As trusted adults play critical roles in children's lives, universal prevention highlighting family bonds for new parents may be a salient intervention focus.