Children's mental health and family functioning in Rhode Island.
OBJECTIVE
Our objectives were to (a) estimate the prevalence of children's mental health problems, (b) assess family functioning, and (c) investigate the relationship between children's mental health and family functioning in Rhode Island.


METHODS
From the 2003 National Survey of Children's Health, Rhode Island data for children 6 to 17 years of age were used for the analyses (N = 1326). Two aspects of family functioning measures, parental stress and parental involvement, were constructed and were examined by children's mental health problems, as well as other child and family characteristics (child's age, gender, race/ethnicity, special needs, parent's education, income, employment, family structure, number of children, and mother's general and mental health). Bivariate analyses and multivariate logistic regression were used to investigate the relationship.


RESULTS
Among Rhode Island children, nearly 1 (19.0%) in 5 had mental health problems, 1 (15.6%) in 6 lived with a highly stressed parent, and one third (32.7%) had parents with low involvement. Bivariate analyses showed that high parental stress and low parental involvement were higher among parents of children with mental health problems than parents of children without those problems (33.2% vs 11.0% and 41.0% vs 30.3%, respectively). In multivariate logistic regression, parents of children with mental health problems had nearly 4 times the odds of high stress compared with parents of children without those problems. When children's mental health problems were severe, the odds of high parental stress were elevated. However, children's mental health was not associated with parental involvement.


CONCLUSIONS
Children's mental health was strongly associated with parental stress, but it was not associated with parental involvement. The findings indicate that when examining the mental health issues of children, parental mental health and stress must be considered.
Kim
Hyun Hanna K
HH
Rhode Island Department of Health, Family Health, Providence, Rhode Island 02908-5097, USA. hanna.kim@health.ri.gov
Viner-Brown
Samara I
SI
Garcia
Jorge
J
D000293:Adolescent; D015984:Causality; D002648:Child; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D015995:Prevalence; D044469:Racial Groups / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012237:Rhode Island / Q000453:epidemiology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology