Demographic characteristics, Child Mental Health, and Maternal
Mental Health
We found few associations between demographic factors with maternal
mental health profiles. This is surprising given past findings that
disadvantaged individuals may face more mental health challenges
(Campbell et al., 2009; Gross et al., 2020). However, it is important to
note that the sample used in this study consists of low-income mothers,
many of whom are immigrants to Canada and/or head single-parent
households. Furthermore, during COVID-19, the Canadian government made
several social and financial supports available (Petit & Tedds, 2020).
These financial supports might have disproportionally benefitted
low-income families (e.g., Canada Emergency Response Benefit, also
referred to as CERB, might have been greater than or equal to the amount
of income lost during COVID-19). However, they may not have been
sufficient for those who had higher salaries.
Only parental overprotection was associated with poorer maternal mental
health before and during COVID-19. This highlights the need to identify
which types of parenting behaviours and thoughts require support. In
addition, assessing the degree of overprotection could assist
practitioners in identifying mothers who require greater support,
particularly during times of heightened stress.
Consistent with existing literature, we found a significant association
between maternal mental health and children’s temperament (Tolja, Radoš,
& Anđelinović, 2020). Prior to the pandemic, mothers with poorer mental
health rated their children as more fearful. However, these findings
were not replicated during the pandemic, suggesting that the pandemic
had a unique influence on the role of children’s temperament. Mothers
reported increased fearfulness in their children during COVID-19. This
increased fearfulness may have resulted from children coping with the
pandemic, rather than being linked to maternal mental health. Notably,
however, children’s anger significantly predicted maternal mental health
during the pandemic. These results suggest that in situations with high
stress and limited resources (such as school and childcare closures),
mothers with more difficult children may experience declines in mental
health. Alternatively, declining maternal mental health may lead to
increased perceptions of children’s anger or a heightened experience of
angry behaviour in children.
Mothers who were below clinical concern prior to COVID-19 were least
likely to report that their children had high emotional challenges,
highlighting associations between family dynamics and mental health.
This finding is consistent with prior research showing the relationship
between children’s internalizing problems and maternal mental health.
However, during COVID-19, other indicators of children’s mental health,
such as conduct problems, hyperactivity, and peer problems, were related
to maternal mental health profiles. Mothers whose children had higher
levels of problems in these areas prior to the pandemic were more likely
to be in profiles characterized by clinically depressed and highly
stressed mental health during COVID-19.
Our findings highlight that families are complex social systems in which
individuals are influenced by one another (Kerr & Bowen, 1988). Our
findings were consistent with prior research highlighting the
relationship between children’s internalizing problems and maternal
mental health (Arroyo-Borrell et al., 2017; Burns et al., 2022).
Interestingly, no associations were found between the other child mental
health subscales and maternal mental health profiles. The findings align
with important theories such as, family systems theory (Kerr & Bowen,
1988; Minuchin, 1974) that emphasize that family members influence one
another’s behaviour, or in this instance, their mental health. The
significant associations between children’s mental health and COVID-19
profile membership are not surprising since mothers assumed the majority
of the child care responsibilities during the pandemic and were
significantly more involved with their children’s learning at home
during the pandemic (Alon et al., 2020). Therefore, to support
low-income mothers with young children, it is imperative to ensure their
children are doing okay.