The effects of parental mental ilness on children: Pathways to risk to resilience from infancy to adulthood

Millions of children and adolescents are exposed to parental mental health problems at any given time. Yet although understanding the impact of parental mental illness on offspring is a matter of great social and theoretical significance, relatively little attention has been paid to the experiences of these offspring. The goal of this dissertation was to examine the effects of early maternal mental illness on children across development. A sample of parents and offspring were followed over the course of 40 years, and pathways from maternal psychopathology during the first three years to offspring adaptive functioning in adulthood were examined. Study 1 tested direct and indirect associations between maternal mental illness in early childhood and offspring 30-year functioning in the areas of mental health, romantic relationships, and socioeconomic status using structural equation modeling. Results were that early maternal mental health was an important predictor of offspring adult competence, and that the pathways to these diverse outcomes differed based on the domain of functioning. Study 2 assessed adult offspring's narratives about their families of origin at age 30, and examined their representations of these experiences and of relationships in general. These representations were found to be additional mediators of the associations between maternal mental health and offspring competence, suggesting the importance of both actual experiences and representations to adult adaptive functioning. Study 3 explored in more depth adult offspring's experiences and perceptions of growing up with a mentally ill parent. Interviews were administered to a small group of participants at age 40, and these narratives were analyzed using qualitative methods. Even at age 40, earlier experiences with parental mental illness played a salient role in the lives of offspring, and results support the hypothesis that perceptions of parental mental illness as well as methods of coping with parental mental illness predict risk or resilience among offspring. Overall, results of this dissertation elucidate some of the individual and family factors that contribute to adaptive or maladaptive outcomes among offspring of mentally ill parents, and provide a basis for the development of prevention and intervention programs for this risk group of individuals.