Parental Strain, Mental Health Problems, and Parenting Practices: A Longitudinal Study.

Although poor parenting practices place youth living in under resourced communities at heightened risk for adjustment difficulties, less is known about what influences parenting practices in those communities. The present study examines prospective linkages between three latent constructs: parental strain, mental health problems and parenting practices. Parental victimization by community violence and life stressors were indicative of parental strain; depressive, anxious, and hostile symptoms were indicators of parental mental health; and parental knowledge of their child's activities and child disclosure were indicators of parenting practices. Interviews were conducted annually for 3 waves with 316 female caregivers (92% African American) parenting youth in low-income inner-city communities. Structural equation modeling revealed that parental strain, assessed at Wave 1, predicted changes in mental health problems one year later, which in turn predicted parenting practices at Wave 3. These results suggest that parental strain can compromise a caregiver's ability to parent effectively by impacting their mental health. Opportunities for intervention include helping caregivers process trauma and mental health problems associated with parental strain.