Parental mental illness Relatively little has been written about the
effect of serious and persistent parental mental illness on child abuse, although many studies show that substantial proportions
of mentally
ill mothers are living away from their children.14 Much
of the discussion about the
effect of maternal mental illness on child abuse focuses on the
poverty and homeless - ness
of mothers who are mentally
ill, as well as on the behavior problems
of their children — all issues that are correlated with involvement with child welfare services.15 Jennifer Culhane and her colleagues followed a five - year birth cohort among women who had ever been homeless and found an elevated rate
of involvement with child welfare services and a nearly seven - times - higher rate
of having children placed into foster care.16 More direct evidence on the relationship between maternal mental illness and child abuse in the general population, however, is strikingly scarce, especially given the 23 percent rate
of self - reported major depression in the previous twelve months among mothers involved with child welfare services, as shown in NSCAW.17
Using data from the NLSY and structural equation models, we have constructed five latent factors (cognitive stimulation, parenting style, physical environment, child's
ill health at birth, and
ill health in childhood) and have allowed these factors, along with child care, to mediate the
effects of poverty and other exogenous variables.