The association between parental mental health and behavioral disorders in pre-school children

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Behavioral disorders among children reflect psychological problems of parents, as mental illness of either parent would increase the likelihood of mental disorder in the child. In view of the negative relationship between parents’ and children’s illness, the current study intended to determine the correlation between mental health of parents and behavioral disorders of pre-school children. METHODS: The present descriptive-correlational research studied 80 children registered at pre-school centers in Pardis Township, Tehran, Iran during 2014–2015 using convenience sampling. The research tools included General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and Preschool Behavior Questionnaire (PBQ). The resulted data were analyzed using Pearson Product-moment Correlation Coefficient and regression analysis in SPSS 21. RESULTS: The research results showed that there was a significant positive correlation between all dimensions of mental health of parents with general behavioral disorders (p<0.001). The results of the regression analysis showed that parents’ depression was the first and the only predictive variable of behavioral disorders in children with 26.8% predictive strength. CONCLUSION: Given the strong relationship between children’s behavioral disorders and parents’ general health, and the significant role of parents’ depression in children’s behavioral disorders, it seems necessary to take measures to decrease the impact of parents’ disorders on children.