Publikationen
No glue, no scissors: Bridging parental mental health, parenting activities, and the early home learning environment
Maly-Motta, Hanna Lena/Lochner, Susanne Patricia/Linberg, Anja/Kuger, Susanne (2026):
No glue, no scissors: Bridging parental mental health, parenting activities, and the early home learning environment.
In: Children and Youth Services Review, H. 192
Research has linked poor parental mental health to lower engagement in parent–child activities within the home learning environment (HLE). Drawing on parenting, family stress, and depression research, impaired mental health may disrupt cognitive and affective regulation processes important for parenting, including engagement in educational and leisure activities. However, prior research has largely focused on single activity domains and data from only one parent. Addressing these limitations, the present study compares mothers’ and fathers’ engagement across global and domain-specific activities within a unified framework. Multilevel regression analyses based on cross-sectional data from 1,582 children showed that poorer maternal and paternal mental health was associated with less frequent engagement in developmentally beneficial activities, such as outdoor walks and sports. Poorer maternal mental health was additionally linked to less shared reading. Although causal conclusions cannot be drawn, the findings suggest that maternal and paternal mental health are associated, partly differently, with the frequency of everyday learning-related activities. Reduced engagement in these activities may weaken children’s early home learning environment. Overall, the study extends previous research by jointly examining maternal and paternal reports across multiple activity domains and highlights the importance of supporting both parents’ mental health to sustain early home learning environments.
No glue, no scissors: Bridging parental mental health, parenting activities, and the early home learning environment.
In: Children and Youth Services Review, H. 192
Research has linked poor parental mental health to lower engagement in parent–child activities within the home learning environment (HLE). Drawing on parenting, family stress, and depression research, impaired mental health may disrupt cognitive and affective regulation processes important for parenting, including engagement in educational and leisure activities. However, prior research has largely focused on single activity domains and data from only one parent. Addressing these limitations, the present study compares mothers’ and fathers’ engagement across global and domain-specific activities within a unified framework. Multilevel regression analyses based on cross-sectional data from 1,582 children showed that poorer maternal and paternal mental health was associated with less frequent engagement in developmentally beneficial activities, such as outdoor walks and sports. Poorer maternal mental health was additionally linked to less shared reading. Although causal conclusions cannot be drawn, the findings suggest that maternal and paternal mental health are associated, partly differently, with the frequency of everyday learning-related activities. Reduced engagement in these activities may weaken children’s early home learning environment. Overall, the study extends previous research by jointly examining maternal and paternal reports across multiple activity domains and highlights the importance of supporting both parents’ mental health to sustain early home learning environments.