Mission in Sukusuku Cohort, Mie: A Study Focusing on the Characteristics of Participants and the Mental Health of the Mothers Raising Children

BACKGROUND: We carried out Sukusuku cohort, Mie (SCM), a long term cohort study of child development and investigated the feasibility and validity of this study. Then we focused on the characteristics of the enrolled families and verified the representativeness of the participants in SCM. METHODS: The characteristics of 185 families recruited from 3 hospitals were analyzed, and we verified the representativeness of these subjects. We also analyzed the factors that may influence the mental health of the mothers who are raising children. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the subjects from the 3 hospitals in terms of the age distribution, academic background, occupation, and annual income of the participating families. At 42 months, the average developmental quotients for postural and motor, cognitive and adaptive, and speech and social development in the 140 infants were 98.6, 100.6, and 99.9, respectively. The overall developmental quotient for infants was 100.3 ± 13.2; this score was within the standard range (55–132). The path-analysis model revealed that family function was an important factor influencing the mental health of mothers. CONCLUSIONS: The participant characteristics were thought to be generally representative, and we showed the validity and representativeness of the participants in this cohort study. The mental health analysis of mothers suggested that relieving mothers from child-rearing stress and maintaining family function were important for the maintenance and improvement of maternal mental health.