Trauma in the Lives of Parents of Adults With Serious Mental Illness and Its Impact On Health and Well-Being

Background and Purpose: There is a large body of research indicating that parents of adults with serious mental illness (SMI) are at increased risk for poor health and mental health outcomes. This research has focused on how the burdens of associated with caregiving take a toll on parental well-being.  There is a growing awareness of early trauma in the lives of persons with SMI and its long-term impact on their well-being.  However, there has been virtually no research on the experience of trauma in the lives of parents of persons with SMI.  The purpose of this study was to examine whether parents of adults with SMI were at increased risk for experiencing trauma independent of their child’s illness, and whether these traumatic events had a stronger influence on their psychological well-being than the stress related to their child’s illness.

Methods: Data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS), which began in 1957 based on a random sample of 10,000 high school juniors and seniors, were analyzed. In 2004, through an extensive set of screening questions, 295 WLS participants were identified who had a child with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression. These parents were compared to WLS parents who did not have a child with SMI or other type of disability.  All WLS respondents were asked about abuse prior to age 18 and to indicate whether they had experienced any of a number of traumatic events during adulthood.  The data were analyzed using ANCOVA and multiple regression.   

Results: Whereas mothers of adults with SMI showed elevated rates of depression, and physical health symptoms, and poorer self-rated health than comparison group mothers, no differences were found between fathers of adults with SMI and comparison group fathers.  Mothers of adults with SMI were more likely to report experiencing childhood abuse compared to their age peers. However, there were no differences in the experience of childhood abuse between fathers of adults with SMI and their age peers. Whereas mothers of adults with SMI were more likely to experience significantly higher levels of spouse abuse compared to their age peers (26.4% vs. 10.5%), no differences in reports of spouse abuse were found between fathers of adults with SMI and their age peers.   In predicting psychological well-being, traumatic events had a stronger effect on the well-being of both fathers and mothers than the burden associated with having a child with SMI.

Conclusions and Implications: Research on families of persons with SMI has tended to attribute poor parental well-being to the burden of mental illness. While these burdens take a toll on parental well-being, our research suggests that these families, in particular mothers,  are at increased risk for experiencing other life traumas, which are independent of their child’s illness but have powerful effects on well-being.  In working with these families, social work practitioners need to begin to assess trauma in the lives of parents of adults with SMI to determine how it might be affecting the parent’s ability to cope with their adult child’s illness.