There is an increasing concern that
parental mental health may have far-reaching undesirable consequences for
children. However, factors impeding parental resiliency to overcome mental
illness have been less forthcoming in the literature. The present study aimed
to investigate independent and interactive impacts of risk and protective
factors influencing depression among parents receiving welfare.
The study used
panel data from the first two waves (Wave 1 in 2004 and
Wave 2 in 2006) of the nationally representative Longitudinal Study of Australian
Children. The analytic sample included 1204 parents of children aged 4 - 5
years old who participated in both of the waves and received government
payments as their main income source in Wave 1. At Wave 2, twenty seven percent
of all participant parents had income support as their main income source, and
one-third of these parents reported having depressive symptoms during the 4
weeks prior to the interview.
In hierarchical
regression analysis, specific stressful events in the past 12 months
(relationship breakdown, financial hardship, substance abuse, and death of a
love one) had emerged as significant risk factors of depression. Parenting
self-efficacy, timely access to support services and neighborhood belonging
were found to be significant protective factors of depression. The most unique
and key finding was that parents experiencing stressful events were less likely
to report depression if they had adequate access to support services at times
of adversity, and these results remained largely unchanged above and beyond the
effects of the control variables.
In conclusion, these
findings have important implications for inculcating resilience in families on
welfare, in particular through driving an institutional change that is
responsive to ongoing and emergent needs. It is important that policy and health
services delivery are designed in conjunction to provide maximum support for
disadvantaged families at times of adversity. Besides, investing
in early diagnosis and intervention for depression with targeted and adequate
support for one generation will surely promote healthy developmental outcomes
for the next.
Article by Eliza Ahmed, from Australian
National University, Canberra, Australia.
Full access: http://mrw.so/1tv47C
Image by Loizos Nikolaou, from
Flickr-cc.
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