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Published on: September 19, 2019
Parental perception of mental health needs in young children
Ellen W McGinnis1, William Copeland1, Lilly Shanahan2
1Univeristy of Vermont Medical Center, Burlington, VT, USA.
Insights
Most preschool children with psychiatric disorders are not recognized by parents as needing help. Parental and child factors influence this perception, highlighting a critical gap in early mental health identification.
Area of Science:
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
- Developmental Psychology
- Pediatric Mental Health
Background:
- Preschool children (under 6) have unmet psychiatric needs.
- Young children rely on parental identification of mental health issues.
- Parental perception is key to accessing early mental health services.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine child and parent factors associated with parental perception of mental health needs in young children.
- To understand the relationship between child's psychiatric symptoms/impairment and parental recognition.
- To investigate how parental mental health influences their perception of their child's needs.
Main Methods:
- Diagnostic interviews were conducted with parents of 917 children (aged 2-6 years).
- Assessed child diagnoses (depression, anxiety, ODD/CD, ADHD) and impairment.
- Surveyed parents on their own depression, anxiety, and psychiatric impairment.
Main Results:
- Only 38.8% of children meeting diagnostic criteria were perceived by parents as needing help.
- Higher child symptom counts (≥19) and impairment (≥4) increased parental perception of need.
- Parental depression correlated with perceived need in diagnosed children; parental impairment correlated with perceived need in undiagnosed children.
Conclusions:
- A significant gap exists in parental recognition of mental health needs in preschool children.
- Both child-specific factors (symptoms, impairment) and parent-specific factors (mental health) influence this perception.
- Early identification and intervention for pediatric mental health are hindered by low parental perception rates.
Background:
There is evidence of unmet psychiatric needs in children under 6. These young children are dependent on their parents to identify their mental health needs. This study tested child and parent associations with parent perception of young child mental health need.
Method:
Parents of 917 children (aged 2-6 years) completed a diagnostic interview about their child assessing depression, anxiety, ODD/CD, ADHD, and impairment. Parents were surveyed about their own depression, anxiety, and asked about their psychiatric impairment. Parents were also asked whether they perceived their child as having a mental health need.
Results:
Only 38.8% of children who met criteria for a diagnosis were perceived by their parents as having a need, similar to previously studied rates in school-aged children. Perception of need was associated with higher levels of symptoms and impairment. Thresholds for at least half of parents perceiving their child as having a need were relatively high: 19 or more symptoms, or 4 or more impairments. There was evidence of specificity: children with depressive disorders were more likely to be perceived as in need compared with other disorders. In terms of parent factors, more parental depressive symptoms were associated with higher perception of child need when the child had a diagnosis. Parental psychological impairment was associated with higher perception of need when the child had no diagnosis.
Conclusions:
Most preschool children that meet criteria for a psychiatric disorder are not perceived as needing help by their parents, which is dependent on both child and parent factors.
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