Bidirectional effects between maternal mental health and adolescent internalizing problems across six years in Northern Ireland. Issue 2 (31st May 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Luningham, Justin M.; Wentz, Bethany; Merrilees, Christine E.; Taylor, Laura K.; Goeke‐Morey, Marcie C.; Shirlow, Peter; Shannon, Tess; Cummings, E. Mark
• Is Part Of: JCPP advances. Volume 2:Issue 2(2022)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2022-05-31
• Subjects: adversity -- family functioning -- internalising disorder -- longitudinal studies -- maternal factors; Child psychiatry -- Periodicals; Child psychology -- Periodicals; Adolescent psychiatry -- Periodicals; Adolescent psychology -- Periodicals; 618.9289
• DOI: 10.1002/jcv2.12078
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2692-9384

Abstract

Abstract: Background: Emerging evidence indicates the existence of bidirectional relations between mothers' mental health and adolescent adjustment, but few studies have examined these relations in contexts of high environmental adversity, including economic deprivation and political violence. Given other empirical connections between political violence and adolescent adjustment problems, the impact of child adjustment problems on maternal mental health may be exacerbated in contexts of sectarian violence. Methods: Addressing this gap, latent change score modeling was used to examine interrelations between trajectories of maternal mental health and adolescent internalizing symptoms over time in communities afflicted by political conflict. Over six years, 999 adolescent‐mother dyads participated in a longitudinal study in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Six‐hundred ninety‐five families were originally recruited in year 1, with 304 recruited to supplement the sample in year 3; the largest available sample for a given year was 760 dyads. Models including maternal mental health, adolescent internalizing symptomatology, and political violence (i.e., sectarian antisocial behavior) as a time‐varying covariate were tested. Results: Results demonstrated that for both mothers and adolescents in a dyadic pairing, higher rates of symptomology in one member of the dyad were related to symptoms observed in the other member. Results also suggest that political violence and factors related to social deprivation increased symptoms across the dyad. Conclusion: This study advances understanding of the bidirectional impact between maternal mental health and adolescent internalizing over time in contexts of political violence. Abstract : This study examined the bidirectional impact between maternal mental health and adolescent internalizing 6 consecutive years in youth from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Results demonstrated that higher symptomology in one pair of the mother‐adolescent dyad predicted an increase of symptoms for the other member in the following year. Politically‐related antisocial behavior in the community increased mother's and adolescent's symptomatology, thereby impacting these bidirectional relations.