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Identification of Children of Parents With Mental Illness: A Necessity to Provide Relevant Support
Charlotte Reedtz1, Camilla Lauritzen1, Ylva V Stover2
1Regional Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Child Wellfare, Faculty of Health Sciences, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
Insights
Children with mentally ill parents (COPMI) often lack information about their parent's condition, especially younger children. Access to other adults is a protective factor, highlighting needs for targeted preventive interventions.
Area of Science:
- Child Psychology
- Psychiatric Epidemiology
- Public Health Interventions
Background:
- Children with mentally ill parents (COPMI) require focused attention to understand their life circumstances.
- Identifying risk and protective factors is crucial for developing effective preventive strategies for COPMI aged 0-17 years.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify and describe the core life circumstances of children with mentally ill parents (COPMI).
- To assess risk and protective factors within the lives of COPMI to inform preventive interventions.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective data analysis of electronic patient journals from 422 parents and 589 minor children.
- Participants were parents receiving treatment for psychiatric illness and substance abuse at the University Hospital of Northern Norway.
Main Results:
- Most parents had one diagnosis, frequently mood disorders, with a significant proportion experiencing serious (46.0%) or moderate (38.8%) mental health conditions.
- While most children had access to other adult resources (94%), 6% did not. Information about parental illness was more common in older children, with younger children rarely informed.
- Over three-quarters of children lived with their mentally ill parent, and 32.5% lived with a single parent with a mental health disorder and siblings.
Conclusions:
- Age is a significant factor in whether children are informed about parental mental illness; younger children are less likely to receive this information.
- Access to external adult support systems is a key protective factor for children with mentally ill parents.
- Findings underscore the need for tailored preventive interventions addressing age-specific needs and information gaps for COPMI.
Abstract:
Background: The main objective of this study was to identify and describe core life circumstances of children with mentally ill parents (COPMI) and their parents. Knowledge about COPMI aged 0-17 years is necessary, as assessment of the risk and protective factors in their lives provide solid background for preventive interventions. Methods: Participants (N = 422) were parents of minor children (N = 589) receiving treatment in the clinic for psychiatric illness and substance abuse at the University Hospital of Northern Norway. Data was drawn from electronic patient journals. Results: A total of 286 mothers and 136 fathers participated in the study, and 46.3% were single parents. Parents had 1-7 children (M = 2.24; SD = 1.02). Most parents had one diagnosis (n = 311, 73.7%), and mood disorders was the most frequent type of diagnosis. The largest proportion of parents had serious mental disorders (n = 185; 46.0%), and a large proportion of the sample was affected by disorders of moderate severity (n = 156; 38.8%). The mean age of the children was 8.6 years (SD = 4.97), and 432 children (74.6%) had one or more siblings. The large majority of children had access to adult resource persons other than the mentally ill parent (n = 424; 94%), but 6% of the children (n = 27) did not. About three quarters of the children (76.2%, n = 526) were living with the mentally ill parent (n = 401), and 170 children (32.5%) lived with a single parent with a mental health disorder and siblings, full time or part of the time. The odds that parents had informed their children about the treatment/hospitalization and condition was higher the older the child was (p < 0.001), and the youngest children rarely got necessary information about this. Discussion: Risk and protective factors associated with the children's ages, access to resource persons, information about the parent's health problems and treatment are discussed in relation to different preventive steps for COPMI.
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