Maternal and child mental health: evaluating parenting as a mechanism for intergenerational transmission of mental health challenges

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dc.contributor.authorMcHardy, Robert
dc.contributor.examiningcommitteeGiuliano, Ryan (Psychology)
dc.contributor.examiningcommitteeNancekivell, Shaylene (Psychology)
dc.contributor.supervisorRoos, Leslie E.
dc.date.accessioned2024-07-30T20:21:23Z
dc.date.available2024-07-30T20:21:23Z
dc.date.issued2024-07-11
dc.date.submitted2024-07-12T04:03:58Zen_US
dc.degree.disciplinePsychology
dc.degree.levelMaster of Arts (M.A.)
dc.description.abstractChild mental health challenges increased during the COVID-19 pandemic and may be sustained by the current ‘stress context’ (e.g., unaffordability). Parent and child mental health are linked. Factors such as parenting practices may mediate this link, but results are mixed and research has only considered specific disorders. Transdiagnostic research examines broad symptom dimensions and physiological markers that may underly mental health challenges and may better capture how parenting practices mediate the link between parent and child mental health challenges. This thesis took a broad approach to evaluate how a variety of maternal mental health symptoms (i.e., depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, anger) and physiological markers (i.e., heart rate, sleep duration, physical activity) were linked with child mental health in a sample of treatment-seeking mothers to young children (n = 137). How this association was mediated by harsh and positive parenting practices was also examined. Results supported the link between maternal mental health symptoms and child mental health problems, but did not find the same association for maternal physiology. While positive parenting was linked to child mental health, only harsh parenting mediated the association between maternal and child mental health with a medium-large effect size. This study adds to the literature as the first to take a broad approach to this problem and extends mediational findings to the first three years of life, a sensitive period (Wachs et al., 2014). Future research should extend this study across multiple timepoints to establish causality while also considering risk factors beyond maternal mental health.
dc.description.noteOctober 2024
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1993/38342
dc.language.isoeng
dc.rightsopen accessen_US
dc.subjecttransdiagnostic
dc.subjectmental health
dc.subjectphysiology
dc.subjectparenting
dc.subjectearly childhood
dc.subjectfamily systems
dc.titleMaternal and child mental health: evaluating parenting as a mechanism for intergenerational transmission of mental health challenges
dc.typemaster thesisen_US
local.subject.manitobano
oaire.awardTitleCOVID-19-related distress and adolescent self-injury: Examining the protective nature of relationships
project.funder.identifierhttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000155
project.funder.nameSocial Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
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