Relationships between maternal mental health and school attendance-related difficulties most likely operate from child behaviours to maternal depression, not the other way around.
School avoidant behaviours in children were associated with increased likelihood of subsequent maternal depression symptoms above clinical threshold in ALSPAC.
Maternal depression was not associated with later school avoidance in ALSPAC.
Separation anxiety behaviours in children were associated with increased maternal depression symptoms in ALSPAC.
Maternal depression did not predict later separation anxiety behaviours in ALSPAC.
Attendance-related difficulties at age 7 were associated with higher maternal depression symptoms at age 9 in the WCHADS cohort.
Maternal depression symptoms at age 7 were not associated with attendance-related difficulties at age 9 in WCHADS.
The authors report this as the first evidence that the relationship between maternal mental health and school attendance-related difficulties most likely operates from child behaviours to maternal depression rather than the reverse.
This research suggests that when children struggle to attend school, it is the child's difficulties that lead to increased depression symptoms in mothers — not the other way around. Using data from two large UK studies tracking families over time (one with over 6,000 families and one with about 700), the researchers tested both possible directions: does a child's school attendance problem come before or after a mother's depression? Consistently across both studies, children's attendance-related difficulties (such as school avoidance and separation anxiety) predicted higher levels of maternal depression later on, while maternal depression did not predict children's attendance problems. This matters because it challenges a common assumption that poor parenting or parental mental health causes children to miss school. The findings suggest instead that parents — particularly mothers — experience worsening mental health as a consequence of their child's attendance struggles, not as a cause. The researchers note this is the first study to directly examine this directional question using prospective data from two independent cohorts. This research suggests that school attendance policies and interventions should move away from blaming parents and instead recognize that parents themselves may need support when their child is struggling to attend school. Treating parental distress as a downstream consequence of the child's difficulties, rather than a root cause, could lead to more compassionate and effective approaches for families dealing with school attendance problems.
McGahan J, Pearson R, Fraser H, Campbell A, Hearn J, Braithwaite E, et al.. (2026). Examining the direction of association between attendance-related difficulties and maternal depression symptoms in two UK birth cohorts.. Archives of women's mental health. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-026-01751-w