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Support from healthy, close grandparents is associated with lower maternal antidepressant use, a new study finds.
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New research has found that grandparents are extremely important when it comes to mothers’ mental health.
“Mothers are less likely to purchase antidepressants if their parents are under 70, employed, and do not have serious health problems,” said the study’s lead author, from Helsinki. said Dr. Nina Mezza-Simola, a university lecturer and demographic researcher. In Finland.
According to , researchers tracked 488,000 mothers with young children in Finland between 2000 and 2014. Report released Thursday Published in “Population Research” magazine.
The researchers collected demographic data, including whether the mother had a partner or lived separately, and the age, health, distance, and employment status of the maternal and paternal grandparents.
Research shows that the association between having grandparents’ help and using less antidepressants is especially strong for mothers who have separated from their partners.
“Grandparents are an important source of support for families with children, and it is well known that support from others protects individuals from depression,” Metsa Simola said in an email. “The link between maternal depression and adverse child outcomes is well established, so support is not only important for the mother’s well-being, but also for the growing number of children living with separated mothers. is.”
Lynne McIntyre, a perinatal psychotherapist and researcher at the AFIN research group at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Spain, says that given how important community is to parenting, greater access to support can help reduce depression. He said it’s not surprising that people are buying fewer drugs. She was not involved in the study.
Living together for generations may be less common in American society, and it may be more common for children to live far from their parents when starting a family, but it still takes a village. It’s necessary, McIntyre said.
“The fact that our lives are different now, that more women are highly educated and working, doesn’t mean that the need for really, really strong and generous social support has gone away,” she says.
What happens if grandparents can’t come?
There were cases when grandparents could negatively affect the mother’s health.
Antidepressant use was highest among mothers who had older parents or in-laws, were in poor health, or lived far away, the study showed. The researchers hypothesized that in these situations, grandparents are likely unable to support parents, and instead parents face increased stress caring for the elderly.
Metsä-Simola noted that the study was conducted in Finland, where access to health care and childcare is generous, so the support families receive from older generations can extend beyond those needs.
These other needs include having someone to talk to, having reinforcements when you leave the house when no one is there to care for your child, and in McIntyre’s case, a thermometer beeping at 3 a.m. Sometimes this includes being able to knock on the door. She said she did not take the baby’s obviously high temperature.
Such support may come from grandparents, but families who don’t have access to it aren’t at a loss, she says.
“Social support has to come from somewhere,” McIntyre added. “Is it coming from your aunts and uncles? Is it coming from your friends? Maybe it’s coming from the systems and communities and groups that we’ve set up?”
When McIntyre moved into her new home, she said her normally introverted husband asked if he could invite all the neighbors over.
Although she expressed surprise, she believes that neighbors can provide children with playdates, go through the school system together, and may even be able to help in a pinch. I explained that it would be better to make one.
Getting out into the community is one way to build a village to raise a child, she said.
The Internet can also be helpful. McIntyre added that while group discussions on social media with other parents and caregivers may not give you the support you need, it can help connect you with friends and local parenting groups.
By putting yourself out there early, she says, you may be able to avoid feeling isolated and alone later on.
“We need to be a little more proactive,” she said. “It’s like a date.”
