ABSTRACT
Single motherhood and poverty have a significant, negative impact on mothers and their children. When their mothers experience maternal distress, adolescent children have to take up more instrumental and emotional filial responsibilities to comfort their mother and adapt to related changes. Based on 325 mother-child dyads of Chinese single-mother families experiencing economic disadvantage, this study examined the relationship between maternal distress and adolescent mental health problems (indexed by anxiety and depression) and the moderating roles of instrumental and emotional filial responsibilities. Results indicated that maternal distress was positively associated with anxiety and depression in adolescent children. In addition, instrumental filial responsibility intensified the associations of maternal distress with adolescent anxiety and depression. Moreover, the moderating role of emotional filial responsibility in the predictive relationship between maternal distress and adolescent anxiety was different in boys and girls. Adolescent girls with more emotional filial responsibility reported higher adolescent anxiety than did those who shouldered less emotional filial responsibility when their mother exhibited more distress, whereas the relationship between maternal distress and adolescent anxiety was stable in boys, regardless of emotional filial responsibility. In short, the present study showed that parentification was likely to occur in poor Chinese single-mother families, and adolescent children who took up a more caregiving role in the family exhibited poorer mental health. Family counselling and tangible support for single-mother families experiencing economic disadvantage are urged.
Subject(s)
East Asian People , Mental Health , Mother-Child Relations , Mothers , Poverty , Single-Parent Family , Adolescent , Female , Humans , Male , East Asian People/psychology , Emotions , Mental Health/economics , Mother-Child Relations/psychology , Mothers/psychology , Single-Parent Family/psychology , Poverty/economics , Poverty/psychology , Child Poverty/economics , Child Poverty/psychology , China , Anxiety/economics , Anxiety/psychology , Depression/economics , Depression/psychology , Adolescent Health/economics , Caregiver Burden/economics , Caregiver Burden/psychologyABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: The social unrest that began in Hong Kong in 2019 became a threat to public mental health, such as for depression and post-traumatic stress disorders. A supportive family environment is the most effective protective factor for mental health problems for young people who are exposed to conflict and violence. This study investigated the outcomes of a brief mindful parenting workshop on parent mental health and family functioning. METHODS: Using a randomized controlled trial design, 54 parents of adolescents and young adults were randomized into intervention group and waitlist control group. Depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress symptoms, negative emotions, family functioning, and family conflicts were measured at baseline (pretest), following training, and at 3-month follow-up. RESULTS: We found a significant improvement in family functioning among parents in the intervention group when compared to those parents in the control group (F [1, 51] = 4.41, p = .04). When we further controlled the child-initiated physical conflict as covariate, a significant reduction of self-rated levels of depressive symptoms was found in the parents from the intervention group when compared to the parents in the control group (F [1, 49] = 5.14, p = .03). CONCLUSIONS: We found preliminary evidence that a brief mindful parenting workshop can strengthen parent and family mental health at times of social unrest. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04427683).
