ANN ARBOR—Mothers with a serious mental illness should receive more parenting support from providers of mental health services, according to initial results from a University of Michigan research project.

In a study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, U-M researchers Carol Mowbray and Daphna Oyserman found that only 17 percent of mothers with a mental illness said they could receive support and advice on parenting from their mental health care providers.

“Mental health services should focus more attention on the context of these women’s lives in order to improve the rehabilitative potential of the mothering role and portend a better outcome for their children,” says Mowbray, an associate professor of social work. “Our data suggest that for many women, children can serve as a social resource and a positive source of emotional support.”

According to Mowbray, most of the 379 mothers in the study—all of whom cared for at least one child under age 17—were satisfied with the services offered by their mental health care providers. However, the women did not find the mental health providers particularly helpful in receiving support about or obtaining information on parenting issues.

Similar to prior research on mothers with a mental illness, the U-M study shows that such moms have more children (the median is three) than the population average, are often single parents (about 70 percent do not live with a husband, boyfriend or partner) and have severe economic problems (monthly median family income is $923).

In fact, 78 percent of the mothers reported some difficulty in paying monthly bills, 62 percent have faced a financial crisis in the last year, and 57 percent are not happy with their overall financial status.

“Children can contribute to additional economic stress in the lives of these mothers,” Mowbray says. “They can also present stresses in terms of disciplinary demands, negative self-attributions with regard to parenting, and perceived behavior problems. But most of the women are very satisfied with their parenting and place a high value on its importance.”

Other results from the study include:

—Women in the sample have custody of nearly 86 percent of the total number of their minor children.

—Women report diverse satisfactions from being a mother, reporting more advantages than disadvantages.

—About two-thirds of the mothers reported no alcohol or illicit drug use.

—Roughly 70 percent of the moms were minorities.

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