Navigating Maternal Mental Health

Mothers exhibit lower antidepressant usage when their parents and parents-in-law are healthy and nearby.

Impact of familial health and proximity on maternal antidepressant usage has been highlighted by a new study, with lower rates observed when parents and parents-in-law are healthy and close, contrasting with higher usage among mothers with elderly, distant relatives in poor health, possibly due to increased caregiving responsibilities, as published in the peer-reviewed journal Population Studies ().

The findings of this new longitudinal study which tracked 488,000 mothers of young children between 2000-2014.

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‘Research indicates that mothers are less prone to antidepressant use when their parents and parents-in-law are healthy and close, contrasting with higher antidepressant usage among those with elderly, distant relatives in poor health, possibly due to caregiving stress. #antidepressants #mothers #parents #health ’

“Previous studies have consistently shown that younger grandparents in good health are more likely to provide support and childcare,” says Niina Metsä-Simola, co-author of the study and demographics researcher at the University of Helsinki.

“Whereas having an old and frail grandparent may even place an additional burden on mothers, as they cannot expect to receive support from such grandparents but instead need to continue providing support upwards.”

In the group assessed, of mothers in Finland, the effect was seen to be strongest for women who separated from their partners during the study period.

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“This makes sense,” Metsä-Simola suggests, “as separated mothers often take on primary physical custody of their child, and may often need to rely on relatives to cope with the challenges of single motherhood.

“Mothers in such a situation may need to take on additional work, affecting their need for childcare, and may even need to move home. Having practical and emotional support at such a time would be invaluable.

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“Parents of young children, especially those entering single parenthood, may be especially vulnerable to the adverse mental health effects of separation.

“This could explain why, in our study, grandparental support was particularly relevant for the mental health of separating mothers.

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According to Metsä-Simola, the fact that these findings were documented in Finland - a country with a long history of pro-egalitarian policies – is highly relevant.

Role of Family Health on Mothers

In Finland and other Nordic countries, mothers have universal access to health and social services, as well as affordable early childhood care and education.

Low-cost housing with care is provided for older people. Yet despite such generous policies, there was still a link between grandparents’ proximity, age, and health, and mothers’ antidepressant use. It remains to be seen if the link is stronger in less egalitarian countries like the UK.

“Our study suggests that support exchanges across generations matter for mothers’ mental health, even in the context of a Nordic welfare state where all parents—including single parents—benefit from generous institutional support,” says Metsä-Simola.

“Even in the pro-egalitarian context of Finland, the potential availability of grandparental support matters for maternal mental health, especially among the vulnerable population subgroup of separating mothers.”

Although the research team was able to measure several characteristics of both the maternal and paternal grandparents, a limitation of the study was that their data set contained no direct measure of the support exchanges between mothers and grandparents.

This meant that they could not observe how often grandparents provided childcare and how involved they were in the lives of their children and grandchildren.

The paper recommends that future research could adopt a “broader perspective”, studying whether the depression trajectories of separating childless women are moderated by the characteristics of their parents and (ex-)parents-in-law, as these women do not receive childcare help but may still benefit from other types of support.

In addition, the team suggests future research examines how women’s other characteristics, such as partnership and fertility behaviors, shape the association between their parents’ characteristics and their mental health.

Reference:

Grandparental support and maternal depression: Do grandparents’ characteristics matter more for separating mothers? - (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00324728.2023.2287493)

Source-Eurekalert