The findings, published in Current Psychology, challenge long-standing assumptions that poverty amplifies the effects of parental distress on child psychopathology.

Using data from more than 10,000 participants in the UK’s longitudinal Millennium Cohort Study, the researchers found that the reciprocal relationship between parental and child mental health was not significantly influenced by a family's economic status.

“Children from lower income families are more likely to experience mental disorders, but it is unclear why. Most studies on the role of socioeconomic status in the relationship between child and parent mental health have certain methodological flaws,” said Dębowska, quoted in a press release issued by SWPS University.

“Research does not indicate whether family income (as a measure of poverty) affects the bidirectional relationship between parental mental health and child mental health. Addressing this gap in the literature is important because it will facilitate understanding the relationship between economic hardship and parental and child mental health problems,” she added.

The team, composed of researchers from the University of Sheffield, Ankara University, Lancaster University, and SWPS University, applied advanced statistical methods to analyse data collected from children at seven stages of life, between 9 months and 17 years of age. The total sample included 10,309 individuals: 5,161 females and 5,148 males.

Contrary to the predictions of the Context of Stress model, the researchers did not find that poverty moderated the relationship between parental distress and child psychopathology, either between or within families.

“These results contradict the concept that financial hardship depletes the resources of individuals to cope with other difficulties in their lives. In addition, our results are inconsistent with the results of the meta-analysis showing that the relations between maternal depression and child mental health problems are stronger in low-income families,” Dębowska said.

The authors suggest that the discrepancies may be due to the methodological rigor of the current study. They argue that parental mental health may play a more direct and consistent role in shaping child mental health outcomes, regardless of socioeconomic background.

While the study challenges the idea that poverty intensifies the psychological toll of parental distress, the researchers acknowledge that mental health issues remain more prevalent in economically disadvantaged families. As a result, they stress the continued importance of supporting low-income groups.

Moreover, the findings point to the need for broad-based intervention strategies. “If the effect of parental distress is consistent irrespective of income level, then child mental health intervention targeting should be conducted across all socioeconomic levels,” the researchers conclude.

The study was co-authored by Zeliha Ezgi Saribaz (University of Sheffield, Ankara University), Lydia Gabriela Speyer (Lancaster University), Paul Norman (University of Sheffield), Agata Dębowska (SWPS University), and Richard Rowe (University of Sheffield).

PAP - Science in Poland

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