7/31/2013

There is a troubling trend that researchers have identified again and again – low-income parents, especially single mothers, have higher rates of depression and depressive symptoms than their higher-income counterparts. A new Child Trends’ study found that more than half of a group of low-income mothers in Maryland felt down, depressed, or hopeless in the past year and almost a third had those feelings combined with a lack of interest or pleasure in doing things.

That’s a stark contrast to some national estimates showing that less than 7 percent of all adults have experienced a major depressive episode and that only 5 percent of single parents with incomes at or above the federal poverty level report symptoms of depression. While a recent report from the Urban Institute found that, regardless of income, 14.5 percent of all mothers with young children experienced depression, it also reported that mothers with incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level were more likely to experience severe depression, while higher income mothers reported mild or moderate symptoms.

Source: Child Trends

Available at: http://www.childtrends.org/a-troubling-combination-depression-poverty-and-parenting/#more-10939