ANN ARBOR—Mothers with serious mental illness report that, for the most part, their children entered adulthood with psychiatric and behavioral problems.

It is possible, said Daphna Oyserman, a professor of social work and psychology, and a research professor in the Institute for Social Research, that these children would have been helped by an early intervention with the troubled parents.

In Oyserman’s survey of mothers with mental illness, they reported that one-third of their adult children had not completed high school, and about one-third experienced psychological problems. It also might be inferred that the adult children in this study had relationship problems, in that, at an average age of 22, only about one in nine were in a committed relationship, although 38 percent were parents.

“While it may seem obvious that growing up with a parent with a serious mental illness is stressing, surprising little is known about long term effects,” said Oyserman.

“Because of the stigma attached to mental illness, parents may not ever share the fact that they have a mental illness with their children. This means that even years later, adult children may not have an explanation for parental behavior. It also means that finding a sample of adult children to ascertain how they are doing is challenging.”

The study appears in the May issue of Health and Social Work.

From a larger study of 379 mothers with serious mental illnesses, 157 mothers with an adult child between the ages of 18 and 30 responded via telephone interview about frequency of contact with their adult children, satisfaction with the relationship, their adult child’s education, attainment of other adult roles and problems.

Mothers reported that about half (54 percent) of adult children had a major problem in psychological, drug or alcohol, or legal domains. Although nearly 40 percent of adult children were parents themselves, only about 12 percent were in a committed relationship. Mothers’ bipolar diagnosis was a significant predictor of how many problems adult children were reported to have.

However, the mothers also reported some positive outcomes for their adult children. About 80 percent of adult children were taking on adult occupational roles by working, being enrolled in school, or taking training. Specifically, more than 40 percent of adult children were in post-secondary education or training and 65 percent of adult children were working. Relatively few (8 percent to 12 percent) had drug or alcohol problems. In addition, rather than fleeing their family of origin, more than 70 percent of adult children lived in proximity to their mothers.

Perhaps the most significant finding relates to the influence of type of maternal psychiatric disorder on outcomes for adult children. Compared with other diagnoses, maternal bipolar disorder is particularly risk evoking for adult children.

“Although the current data do not provide information about the process by which risk occurs, perhaps having a diagnosis of bipolar disorder reflects parenting that is less consistent and more difficult for children to understand or predict,” Oyserman said.

A viable way of addressing childhood problems is through attention to the parenting of women with such diagnoses, Oyserman said. Changing parenting behavior is often an effective means to prevent childhood and later adult disorders. Also, connecting with parents in treatment regarding concerns about their children could be an efficient early intervention method with the children.

The study’s other researchers were professors Carol Mowbray (deceased), School of Social Work at U-M, and Deborah Bybee, Department of Psychology at Michigan State University; graduate student Peter MacFarlane of Ohio State University; and research assistant Nicholas Bowersox of Marquette University.

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