Support for Parents & Caregivers
Community & Social Support
Core Finding: PR-COM-C01

It is important for parents to remember that putting their own mental health first is probably the best way to protect the children and help them grow.

MENTAL HEALTH

Parents need to remember that putting their own mental health first is probably the best way to protect their children and help them grow.

One factor that can help prevent mental breakdowns is the degree of social support mothers get from their families and the community. Parents need support and direction to parent effectively.

Parents from four cultures were shown to share common desirable parenting outcomes: good behaviour, competence, good parent-child relationships, positive self-esteem, and self-confidence.

Programmes designed should emphasise effective parent-child communication.

These common desirable outcomes set the stage for parenting programmes to include the establishment of meaningful connections with support networks in the community.

Families that establish meaningful connections with support networks in the community cope better with the challenges of bringing up their children with disabilities. Numerous studies find that parents with higher levels of social support engage in higher levels of positive parenting behaviours such as warmth and monitoring and feeling more effective in parenting.

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  1. MacPhee, D., Fritz, J., & Miller-Heyl, J. (1996). Ethnic variations in personal social networks and parenting. Child Development, 67(6), 3278–3295. https://doi.org/10.2307/1131779

  2. Marshall, N. L., Noonan, A. E., McCartney, K., Marx, F., & Keefe, N. (2001). It takes an urban village: Parenting networks of urban families. Journal of Family Issues, 22(2), 163–182. https://doi.org/10.1177/019251301022002003