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Cited by 39Family Dynamics and RelationshipsChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentAttachment and Relationship Dynamics

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Impact of Relationship Status and Quality (Family Type) on the Mental Health of Mothers and Their Children: A 10-Year Longitudinal Study

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Hannighofer, Jasmin, Foran, Heather, Hahlweg, Kurt, Zimmermann, Tanja·2017·Frontiers in Psychiatry
DOI 10.3389/fpsyt.2017.00266PMC PMC5712550
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Abstract

Mothers and children of single or unstable relationships have higher rates of mental health problems than those in stable two-parent-families. Despite results that mothers and children of conflictual two-parent-families also show impairments, most studies do not consider relationship quality. Therefore the present study combines relationship status and relationship quality to a “family type”. The present study compares German mothers and children of two-parent-families with high relationship quality to those from two-parent-families with a low quality, single mothers and unstable families. Data of n = 249 families from a ten-year-follow-up-longitudinal-study show that mothers with a high relationship quality show the highest levels of mental health whereas all other groups show at least a 3.2 times higher probability of mental health symptoms. Children of mothers in unstable relationships show a 8.2 times higher probability to emotional or behavioral problems than children of mothers with high relationship quality. Therefore, not only relationship status but also relationship quality should be combined and this “family type” should be considered in future research.

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  • Marriage can decrease perceived stress and depressive symptoms, and improve maternal mental health.

    “This finding is consistent with other studies showing that marriage can decrease perceived stress and depressive symptoms, and improve maternal mental health (Beam et al., 2017; Hannighofer et al., 2017).”

    From Parenting Stress, Child Social Functioning, and Part C Early Intervention in Predominantly Low-Income Families of Children With or at High Risk for Developmental Delay From Minoritized Racial and Ethnic Groups (2023) · cites this paper as Hannighofer et al., 2017

    The Results (‘Differences between Mothers in High-Quality Group and Other Groups’; page unavailable) show that mothers in high-quality relationships had fewer symptoms on a combined depression–anxiety–stress measure. But the paper does not show that marriage itself decreases perceived stress or depressive symptoms: its Discussion says relationship quality, rather than relationship status, appears to be the determining factor, and the reported results do not establish a causal decrease. (LLM, conf=0.89)

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Metadata

Authors
Hannighofer, J., Foran, H., Hahlweg, K., & Zimmermann, T.
Affiliations
  • Medizinische Hochschule Hannover (DE)
  • University of Klagenfurt (AT)
  • Technische Universität Braunschweig (DE)
Corresponding author
Zimmermann, Tanja
ORCID
Venue
Frontiers in Psychiatry
Publisher
Frontiers Media SA
Published
2017-11-29
Volume
8
Pages
266-266
ISSN
1664-0640 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3389/fpsyt.2017.00266
PMC
PMC5712550
OpenAlex
W2769585320
Cited by
39
References
2
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 2
FWCI
7.10
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Frontiers in Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (HA 1400/17-1)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Demography › Family Dynamics and Relationships
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
Keywords
relationship quality, relationship status, family structure, maternal mental health, child mental health, single mothers, unstable relationships, two-parent families, family conflict, emotional and behavioral problems, longitudinal study

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