Parenting programs that address both mental health and parenting skills can improve child development, but new research shows that they are often insufficient to provide effective mental health support to parents. research suggests.
“This is a surprising contradiction,” said Marilyn Ahun, the study’s lead author and assistant professor of medicine at McGill University. “While our findings demonstrate the potential for multi-component programs, they also highlight gaps that need to be addressed.”
The research team collaborated with colleagues from Harvard University, Kuwait University, and Emory University to review and analyze 25 studies from around the world.
The researchers, who published their findings in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health, found that children under the age of three whose parents participated in integrated programs had lower emotional scores than children who did not receive support.・I discovered that my cognitive skills were better. However, there was little or no reduction in the mothers’ symptoms of depression. The authors noted that there are not enough studies assessing depression in fathers to know how programs affect fathers’ symptoms.
The researchers said this insight could help design programs that better support parents and young children at a time when children’s brains are most sensitive to experience. They pointed out that parents’ mental health strongly influences parenting practices and child outcomes, even if parents receive parenting support and children still benefit.
Disparities in mental health support for parents
Programs for parents of young children often address parenting skills and mental health support. An integrated program that covers both would focus primarily on parenting skills, the authors say.
“Many of these programs involve just one or two mental health sessions, which is not enough to help struggling parents,” said Ahun, who is also a junior scientist at the McGill University Health Center Research Institute. Not,” he said.
“This is because around one in four mothers and one in 10 fathers experience depression during the perinatal period, making it difficult to provide children with the nurturing support they need. is particularly worrying,” she added.
With more than 250 million children around the world not meeting their developmental potential, researchers believe the results of this study will help determine how best to improve family support during this critical stage of early childhood development. states that it provides insight on how to do so.
