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Ritesh Mistry, PhD, MPH, Gregory D. Stevens, PhD, MHS, Harvinder Sareen, PhD, MPH, Roberto De Vogli, PhD, PsyD, MPH and Neal Halfon, MD, MPH

At the time of this study, Ritesh Mistry, Gregory D. Stevens, and Harvinder Sareen were with the Center for Healthier Children, Families, and Communities, University of California, Los Angeles. Roberto De Vogli is with the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, England. Neal Halfon is with the Center for Healthier Children, Families, and Communities, University of California, Los Angeles.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Ritesh Mistry, PhD, MPH, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, University of California, Los Angeles, 650 Charles Young Drive South, Room A2-125 CHS, Box 956900, Los Angeles, CA 90095 (e-mail: riteshm{at}ucla.edu).

Objectives. We assessed whether there were associations between maternal mental health and individual and co-occurring parenting stressors related to social and financial factors and child health care access.

Methods. We used cross-sectional data from the 2000 National Survey of Early Childhood Health. The 5-item Mental Health Inventory was used to measure self-reported mental health.

Results. After we controlled for demographic covariates, we found that the following stressors increased the risk of poor maternal mental health: lack of emotional (odds ratio [OR] = 3.4; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.0, 5.9) or functional (OR=2.2; 95% CI=1.3, 3.7) social support for parenting, too much time spent with child (OR=3.5; 95% CI=2.0, 6.1), and difficulty paying for child care (OR=2.3; 95% CI=1.4, 3.9). In comparison with mothers without any parenting stressors, mothers reporting 1 stressor had 3 times the odds of poor mental health (OR = 3.1; 95% CI = 2.1, 4.8), and mothers reporting 2 or more stressors had nearly 12 times the odds (OR = 11.7; 95% CI = 7.1, 19.3).

Conclusions. If parenting stressors such as those examined here are to be addressed, changes may be required in community support systems, and improvements in relevant social policies may be needed.

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