Nutritional Sciences Department, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Oct 25;19(21):13855. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192113855.
Women experience anxiety, depression, and stress at higher levels than men and have more parenting responsibilities, especially establishing health practices in the home. Given children's vulnerability, this study aimed to increase understanding of how mothers' mental health status relates to maternal weight-related cognitions, home food environments, and child health via a cross-sectional survey design. In a cluster analysis, using maternal anxiety, depression, and stress assessments, we placed the sample of 531 mothers of school-age children into four clusters: Cluster 1 had the best mental health status, Cluster 2 had high stress, Cluster 3 had anxiety and moderate stress, and Cluster 4 had anxiety, depression, and high stress. Our results indicate an overall downward trend in weight-related cognitions as mental health worsened. Similarly, as mental health declined, so did home food environment characteristics, such as the greater use of non-recommended child feeding practices, fewer family meals, and greater sugar-sweetened beverage supplies. As mothers' mental health status became poorer, children's general health and mental health quality of life declined, and sugar-sweetened beverage intake increased. Our findings suggest that maternal stress, anxiety, and depression are moderately to strongly linked with mothers' cognitions, home food environments, and children's health. Our results also suggest that mental health interventions for mothers should assess cognitions and home food environments and consider the extent to which these factors are affecting family health.
女性比男性更容易经历焦虑、抑郁和压力，并且承担更多的育儿责任，尤其是在家中建立健康的生活习惯。考虑到儿童的脆弱性，本研究旨在通过横断面调查设计，增加对母亲心理健康状况与母亲体重相关认知、家庭食物环境和儿童健康之间关系的理解。在聚类分析中，我们使用了母亲焦虑、抑郁和压力评估，将 531 名学龄儿童的母亲样本分为四个群组：群组 1 心理健康状况最佳，群组 2 压力较大，群组 3 焦虑且压力中等，群组 4 焦虑、抑郁且压力较大。我们的研究结果表明，随着心理健康状况恶化，体重相关认知呈总体下降趋势。同样，随着心理健康状况的下降，家庭食物环境特征也会下降，例如更多地采用不推荐的儿童喂养行为、更少的家庭用餐和更多的含糖饮料供应。随着母亲心理健康状况的恶化，儿童的一般健康和心理健康生活质量下降，含糖饮料的摄入量增加。我们的研究结果表明，母亲的压力、焦虑和抑郁与母亲的认知、家庭食物环境以及儿童的健康状况中度到高度相关。我们的研究结果还表明，针对母亲的心理健康干预措施应评估认知和家庭食物环境，并考虑这些因素对家庭健康的影响程度。
