Department of Psychology and Human Development, UCL Institute of Education, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2023 Feb 24;18(2):e0282108. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0282108. eCollection 2023.
Parental psychological distress (depression, anxiety) is detrimental to child mental health. A key reason for this is that depressed and anxious parents are at risk of engaging in more negative, reactive and harsh parenting. While treatment for psychological distress has a long history of success in adults, less is known about how treatment for parental psychological distress may positively influence parenting behaviours, particularly in the general population. We examined the moderating role of mothers receiving treatment for depression or anxiety on the longitudinal relationship between maternal psychological distress and the development of harsh parenting (smacking and shouting) across early childhood (ages 3 to 7).
Using prospective data from 16,131 families participating in the UK's Millennium Cohort Study, we conducted moderator analysis within a multilevel repeated measures model to test whether receiving treatment for mental health problems could protect mothers with high psychological distress from engaging in harsh parenting.
In each wave, about 7% of mothers reported undergoing treatment for depression or anxiety at that time. Maternal psychological distress was associated with increased use of harsh parenting and that, adjusting for psychological distress, receiving psychological treatment was related to decreased use of harsh parenting. Importantly, receiving psychological treatment buffered the negative effect of psychological distress on harsh parenting.
In early-to-middle childhood, mental health treatment may help mothers with depression or anxiety to be less harsh toward their children, thereby benefiting their child's psychological adjustment.
父母的心理困扰（抑郁、焦虑）会对儿童的心理健康产生不利影响。其中一个关键原因是，抑郁和焦虑的父母更有可能采取消极、反应性和严厉的育儿方式。虽然针对心理困扰的治疗在成年人中已有很长的成功历史，但对于治疗父母的心理困扰如何积极影响育儿行为，特别是在普通人群中，了解较少。我们研究了母亲接受抑郁或焦虑治疗对母婴心理困扰与严厉育儿行为（打屁股和大喊大叫）之间纵向关系的调节作用，该研究跨越了整个儿童早期（3 至 7 岁）。
使用来自参与英国千禧年队列研究的 16131 个家庭的前瞻性数据，我们在多层次重复测量模型中进行了调节分析，以测试心理健康问题的治疗是否可以保护高心理困扰的母亲不采取严厉的育儿方式。
在每个阶段，约有 7%的母亲报告当时正在接受抑郁或焦虑治疗。母亲的心理困扰与严厉育儿行为的增加有关，而在调整了心理困扰后，接受心理治疗与严厉育儿行为的减少有关。重要的是，接受心理治疗缓冲了心理困扰对严厉育儿行为的负面影响。
在儿童早期到中期，心理健康治疗可能有助于患有抑郁或焦虑的母亲对孩子不那么苛刻，从而有益于孩子的心理适应。
