Combined Effects of Mother's, Father's and Teacher's Psychological Distress on Schoolchildren's Mental Health Symptoms

Shuang Li; Jun Na; Huijuan Mu; Yanxia Li; Li Liu; Rui Zhang; Jingyan Sun; Yuying Li; Wei Sun; Guowei Pan; Lingjun Yan

doi:10.2147/NDT.S302782

Combined Effects of Mother's, Father's and Teacher's Psychological Distress on Schoolchildren's Mental Health Symptoms

Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2021 Jun 3:17:1735-1743. doi: 10.2147/NDT.S302782. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Shuang Li^{1

2}, Jun Na^{1

2}, Huijuan Mu^{1

2}, Yanxia Li^{1

2}, Li Liu^{1

2}, Rui Zhang^{1

2}, Jingyan Sun^{1

3}, Yuying Li^{1

3}, Wei Sun^{1

3}, Guowei Pan^{1

3}, Lingjun Yan^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Preventive Medicine, China Medical University, Shenyang, People's Republic of China.
² Institute of Chronic Diseases, Liaoning Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shenyang, People's Republic of China.
³ Research Center for Universal Health, School of Public Health, China Medical University, Shenyang, People's Republic of China.

Abstract

Purpose: Few studies have assessed the individual and joint effects of the mother's, father's and teacher's mental health symptoms on schoolchildren's behavior and emotional well-being simultaneously in the same study.

Patients and methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 8488 Chinese schoolchildren aged 6-17 years in northeast China. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) were used to measure the mental health of the students, their parents and the teacher in charge of the class, respectively. A total of 6173 students (72.73%) with full mental health information from all three caretakers were included in the final analysis.

Results: We found a significantly elevated risk of mental health symptoms in children when their mothers (odds ratios (OR)=2.30, 95% CI=1.93-2.73), fathers (OR=2.08, 95% CI=1.73-2.50) and teachers (OR=1.18, 95% CI=1.01-1.39) reported poorer mental health, and the risk increased significantly with the number of the caretakers with mental symptoms. A father with poor mental health has both direct and indirect effects on a child's emotional health, by worsening the influence of a mother's poor mental health.

Conclusion: All three caretakers have a significant negative influence on schoolchildren's emotional well-being, in the order of mother > father > teacher. It is desirable to assess and manage students' mental health in the both the family and school contexts.

Keywords: combined effects; fathers; mental health symptoms; mothers; school children; teachers.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by a grant from Science and Technology Department of Liaoning Province (No. 2005225012). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.