Peer-reviewed article
Mental health-related sickness absences in parents of children with mental disorders or neurodevelopmental conditions.
Gutvilig M, Komulainen K, Niemi R, Pulkki-Råback L, Elovainio M et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined whether parents of children with psychiatric diagnoses experience more mental health-related sickness absences from work. Using Finnish register data, researchers followed over 700,000 parents and found that having a child with a psychiatric diagnosis was associated with higher rates of psychiatric sickness absence, particularly in the months following certain diagnoses like eating disorders. The association varied by the child's specific diagnosis and the parent's gender.
Key points
- Parents of children with psychiatric diagnoses had greater risk of psychiatric sickness absence in most cases
- Strongest associations were for women and men within 6 months of a child's eating disorder diagnosis (HR 4.92 for women, HR 2.48 for men)
- No significant association for men whose children had substance use or psychotic disorder diagnoses
- Study included 754,009 parents followed for over 7 million person-years across two cohorts
- Associations differed by child's specific diagnosis, parent's gender, and time since diagnosis
Limitations
This study focuses on parental mental health and employment outcomes rather than child well-being directly. It does not evaluate an intervention or provide evidence about what helps children with mental disorders or neurodevelopmental conditions.
Abstract
Aims Having a child with a psychiatric diagnosis is associated with parents' greater risk of subsequent mental disorders but no immediate change in their annual labour market metrics. This discrepancy could be explained by shorter absences from work. We examined first-time psychiatric sickness absences in parents whose children have psychiatric diagnoses. Methods Using several linked nationwide Finnish registers, in this cohort study we examined time to first psychiatric sickness absence in parents whose children were born in 2001-2012 (early-childhood-onset diagnoses) or 2005-2016 (late-childhood-onset diagnoses). Exposure was having a child with a psychiatric diagnosis. Follow-up started when the parent's eldest turned 1 (early-childhood-onset diagnoses) or 5 (late-childhood-onset diagnoses) and ended at psychiatric sickness absence, emigration, 68th birthday, death, or 31 December 2020, whichever occurred first. Results The 2001-2012 and 2005-2016 cohorts included 357 135 and 397 874 parents followed for 3.31 and 3.70 million person-years. Having a diagnosed child was associated with greater risk of psychiatric sickness absence in all except men whose children had substance use or psychotic disorder diagnoses. Time-varying analyses showed the greatest associations for women (HR: 4.92; 95% CI: 3.97-6.10) and men (HR: 2.48; 95% CI: 1.61-3.80) within 6 months of a child's eating disorder diagnosis. Conclusions Parents of children with psychiatric diagnoses may be at a greater risk of a psychiatric sickness absence. Associations differed by child's diagnosis, parent's gender and time since diagnosis.