When mothers have serious mental health problems: parenting as a proximal mediator

Maternal mental health (MMH) problems are associated with lack of confidence in oneʹs parenting, overly lax or too harsh discipline, and child academic underperformance. We asked if parenting mediates the effect of MMH problems on academic outcomes even among mothers with serious mental illness ( n = 164 ). Structural equation analyses show a significant association between MMH problems and permissive (lack of parenting confidence, lack of follow through) parenting and verbal hostility as well as worse academic outcomes (school recorded grades, teacher reported behaviour). Permissive parenting completely mediated the direct effect of MMH on academic outcomes. Further analyses showed that the mediation effect was attributed to a single component of permissive parenting—lack of parenting confidence.