Parental mental health and children’s social skills development: a study from an urban area of Indonesia
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Introduction: This study examined the association between parental mental health and the development of children’s social skills. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in an urban area of Indonesia using purposive sampling method. The participants were parents of kindergarten children, and all kindergartens in the study area were invited to participate. Parental mental health was self-assessed using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21), while children’s social skills were evaluated by 15 trained teachers using the Social Skills Scale-24 (SSS-24), which covers assertion, self-control, and cooperation. Regression analysis and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) were performed on the data from 343 parent–child dyads. Results: Higher parental stress was negatively associated with children’s assertion (β = –0.119, p = 0.042) and self-control (β = –0.139, p = 0.040). Lower parental anxiety was associated with higher levels of children’s self-control (β = –0.144, p = 0.032) and cooperation (β = –0.175, p = 0.010). MANOVA demonstrated that the combined effects of parental depression, anxiety, and stress were significantly associated with children’s assertion (F = 3.72, p = 0.025) and their overall social skills (F = 3.12, p = 0.045). Conclusions: Greater parental psychological distress is associated with poorer social development in early childhood. Promoting parental mental health may support optimal social skills development among young children.
Source: Jurnal NERS
Institution: University of Tsukuba
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $200
OpenAlex ID: W7204836715