Parental Physical Illnesses and Their Association with Subsequent Externalizing and Internalizing Symptoms in Children

Parental physical illnesses can be stressful for children. We estimated the prevalence of children who experience parental physical illnesses, and whether parental physical illnesses during childhood were associated with behavioral problems in adolescence. Data on children from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 was collected through questionnaires at ages 8 and 16 (n = 7037). Data on parental illness diagnosed during this study period was obtained from health registers. We investigated the association between parental physical illness (based on the International Classification of Diseases) and children’s behavioral problems at age 16 (measured by the Youth Self-Report questionnaire). During the study period, 3887 (55.2%) children had a parent with at least one physical illness. Associations were found between parental physical illness and children’s behavioral problems, with most associations found between maternal illness and males’ externalizing problems, and females’ internalizing problems. After adjusting for child behavioral problems at age 8, parental psychiatric illness and socioeconomic status, and multiple testing correction, only associations between parental physical illness and male behavioral problems were significant. Interestingly, parental illness was associated with lower problems. A notable proportion of children experience parental physical illnesses. Although mixed, our findings suggest that the impact of parental physical illness on children’s behavioral problems is complex, and that the experience of parental illness may lead to resilience in males. This study emphasizes that children’s needs should be taken into account when treating a parent with physical illness.

It’s a Little Complicated

This thesis covers the process behind the production of my fifteen-minute documentary short, It’s a Little Complicated for the MFA Documentary Media program at Ryerson University. It explores the driving force behind my work, the annexation of the Congo by the Belgians, familial abandonment, parental illness and its effect on their children, and family archives. Most importantly, the film and the paper investigate my mother’s past and how her diagnosis brought us closer together.

It’s a Little Complicated

This thesis covers the process behind the production of my fifteen-minute documentary short, It’s a Little Complicated for the MFA Documentary Media program at Ryerson University. It explores the driving force behind my work, the annexation of the Congo by the Belgians, familial abandonment, parental illness and its effect on their children, and family archives. Most importantly, the film and the paper investigate my mother’s past and how her diagnosis brought us closer together.

The Impact of Parental Injury on Children’s Mental Health Diagnoses and Classes of Psychotropic Medication by Child Age

ABSTRACT Background Civilian and military research has linked parental illness and injury with increased overall mental health care and psychiatric medication use in children. Care for specific mental health conditions and medications by child age have not been reported. Objective We sought to quantify the effect of parental illness and injury on child mental health care and psychiatric medication use in children overall and stratified by age. Methods A self-controlled case series analyzed the impact of parental illness/injury on mental health and psychiatric medication use of military dependent children. Children were aged 2–16 years (51% male) when their parents were injured and received care in the Military Health System for 2 years before and 2 years after their parent’s illness/injury. We used International Classification of Diseases 9th edition codes to identify outpatient mental healthcare visits. Outpatient care for 14 specific mental health diagnoses was classified using the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality clinical classification system. Outpatient pharmacy records identified psychiatric medication prescriptions by therapeutic class. Parental illness/injury was identified by inclusion in the Military Health System Ill, Injured, and Wounded Warrior database. Adjusted negative binomial regression analysis compared rates of outpatient visits and medication days in the 2 years following parental illness/injury to the 2 years before the parent’s illness/injury overall. Secondary analyses were stratified by age groups of 2–5 years (n = 158,620), 6–12 years (n = 239,614), and 13–16 years n = 86,768) and adjusted for parental pre-injury/illness deployment and child sex. Additional secondary analysis compared post-parental injury/illness care of children whose parents had post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury to children of parents with physical/mental health injury/illness. Results There were 485,002 children of 272,211 parents injured during the study period. After adjustment for child sex, years of pre-injury/illness parental deployment, and child age, parental illness/injury was associated with increased mental visits across all categories of care except developmental diagnoses. Post-parental injury visits for suicidal ideation, alcohol abuse, mood, and anxiety disorders were all doubled. For children aged 2–5 years at parental illness/injury, the largest increases in care were in psychotic, anxiety, attention deficit, and mood disorders. In children aged 6–12 years, the largest increases were in psychotic conditions, suicidal ideation, and personality disorders. In adolescents aged 13–16 years, the largest increases were for alcohol and substance abuse disorders, with visits increasing by 4–5 times. For children of all ages, parental injury was associated with increased use of all therapeutic classes of psychiatric medications; use of stimulant medications was increased in younger children and decreased in older children following parental injury (P < .001). Conclusion Parental illness/injury is associated with increased mental health care and days of psychiatric medication use in dependent children. Practitioners who care for families impacted by parental illness/injury should be cognizant of children’s mental health risk. Early identification and treatment of child-related mental health issues can improve family functioning and increase military family readiness.