The Origins of Happiness

Parenting and Parents’ Mental Health

As the table shows, the mother’s mental health has a pow-

erful influence on her children’s well- being, with a partial

correlation of 0.15 or more. The effect is especially strong

on girls.^12 This is not just an effect of postnatal depression

(which affects 10– 20% of mothers). In fact, the prevalence

of maternal depression is fairly constant throughout the

childhood of our sample. The father’s mental health also

matters, but much less, with a partial correlation of 0.05 or

less.^13 This reinforces the view that the effect of the mother’s

mental health comes largely through the child’s experience

and not the genes, since fathers’ and mothers’ genes matter

equally.

These findings are consistent with earlier work showing

how mental health is transmitted from one generation to

another.^14 Even while children are in the womb, their brains

are affected by their mother’s emotional state, and these ef-

fects persist.^15

So what about the way the parents interact with their

children? This is a matter of huge importance, and the ev-

idence from ALSPAC is limited. Standard findings about

child development include the following:^16

• Attachment. It is crucial that a child develops at-
  tachment to a parent or parent- surrogate, whom
  they experience as a source of unconditional love
  and affection. A related concept is the degree of
  warmth in the relationship.


• Firmness. The parent needs to set clear boundaries
  that are implemented with firmness but also affec-
  tion.