The name is absent

Characteristics of the family

mothers. The authors suggest this indicates a non-generalisation of infants’ own
depressed mood style and associated negative interactions across caregivers.

Evidence on the importance of psychological well-being and stress also emerges from
studies that consider how stress is the mediator for the effect of poverty on children’s
outcomes. The adverse consequences of poverty for families affect family well-being
generally but also affect children’s emotional and social well-being indirectly through
the negative impacts on parents’ well-being and their parenting style and practices
(Conger et al., 1997; Evans & English, 2002; Jackson et al., 2000; McLoyd, 1990;
McLoyd et al., 1994; Mistry et al., 2002).

Cummings et al. (1994) review the research on the association between parents’
mental health and children’s development. While they acknowledge the influence of
genetics and hereditary factors, they emphasise the need to study the contextual and
environmental risk factors associated with depression in families (Downey & Coyne,
1990; Reiss et al., 1991; Rutter, 1990a). Their framework for examining the
relationships between parental, particularly maternal, depression and children’s
development mediated by parent-child interaction is a good example of the
application of the developmental model. However, their main concern is to show that
proximal family processes mediate the effect of family characteristics on outcomes.
This evidence has already been considered in section 2.

4.3.2 The effects of prior parental education on parental well-being
and mental health

There are a number of reasons why education may have an effect on mental health
and well-being (Feinstein, 2002; Hammond, 2002, 2003). Hammond (op cit.) lays out
four pathways for education effects through:

i. economic factors;

ii. access to health services;

iii. health-related practices;

iv. coping with stress.

These benefits are, in turn, caused by the effects of education on efficacy, cognitive
skills and communication. In Feinstein information from the UK national birth
cohorts showed strong effects of qualifications on the probability of depression.
Taking into account childhood abilities, health and family background factors, it is
estimated that the effect on the probability of depression for women going from no
qualifications to an academic Level 1 qualification is a reduction in the likelihood of
depression of between 6 and 10 percentage points. For men, the effects are weaker,
although a degree of benefit of 6 points is estimated for the younger sample
considered⁷.

⁷ The information used here came from the 1999/2000 sweeps of the two cohorts; the 1970 cohort
were aged 33 and those in the 1958 cohort were aged 42.

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