4 days ago
Loving mothers key to good mental health
Having a loving mother in childhood could be key to a life of physical and mental health benefits, research has claimed.
Experts found that young children who had experienced more affection and 'maternal warmth' – defined as more praise, a positive tone of voice and acts of affection – were more likely to feel socially safe and happy as teenagers.
The study, led by the University of California in Los Angeles, looked at children's experiences of maternal warmth at three years old and how this affected their perceptions of social safety – their view of the world, other people and where they fit in – by the age of 14.
It also found that the greater feeling of social security at 14 was in turn linked to better physical and mental well-being at 17, according to the findings.
While greater maternal warmth has previously been linked to better health throughout life, the authors said the mechanisms underlying those associations had been unclear.
Dr Jenna Alley, the lead author, said one possibility was that 'interpersonal experiences' early in life affected whether children perceived the social world as safe or threatening, accepting or rejecting and supportive or dismissive.
The perceptions developed over time into mental frameworks, called social safety schemas, that help people interpret, organise, and make predictions about social situations and relationships.
She said a person's 'social safety schema is the lens through which you view every social interaction you have', adding: 'In a way, these schemas represent your core beliefs about the world, what you can expect from it, and how you fit in.'
The study is the first to track how maternal warmth in early childhood is related to perceptions of social safety in mid-adolescence, and how perceptions of social safety influence physical and mental health as people near adulthood.
Data from more than 8,500 British children assessed as part of the long-term Millennium Cohort Study were examined.
Independent evaluators visited the children at home at age three and assessed how their mothers interacted with them, whether it was warm, praising and positive, or harsher, with physical restraining or grabbing of the child.
At age 14, the teenagers social safety 'schemas' were measured with questions such as: 'Do I have family and friends who help me feel safe, secure and happy?'
The children then reported on their overall physical health, psychiatric problems and psychological distress at age 17.
Fewer problems
The findings showed that children with mothers exhibiting more maternal warmth in early childhood perceived the world as being more socially safe at age 14, and had fewer physical health problems, less psychological distress and fewer psychiatric problems at age 17.
However, the scientists said opposite was not true, with their no evidence linking children who treated more 'harshly' to worse perceptions of the world or health.
Dr Alley said the stronger impact of maternal warmth on a child's development was important because it had implications for how to best intervene.
She said: 'The findings tell the story of resilience. Namely, it's not just about stopping the negative things like poor care but about putting effort toward enhancing the positives like warmth and safety.
'It also important to know that people who have experienced poor care during childhood are not doomed; if we focus on their perceptions of the world, we can greatly improve their lives.'
'A powerful message'
Dr George Slavich, a senior author and director of the Laboratory for Stress Assessment and Research at UCLA, said: 'These are the first results we know of showing that maternal warmth can affect the health and wellbeing of kids years later by influencing how they think about the social world.
'That is a powerful message, because although early-life circumstances are not always easy to change, we can help youth view others and their future in a more positive light.'
The research team said warmth from fathers was not analysed because there was insufficient information from dads in the Millennium Cohort Study.
Dr Alley said preliminary research suggests that the quality of care that fathers provide also predicts child outcomes, and should be a focus of future studies.
The study was published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.
