Playful activities mitigate relations between parental mental health difficulties and child verbal outcomes.

ABSTRACT: This study examined the role of parental involvement in the home learning environment in the association between parental mental health and child cognitive performance. In a sample of 174 three- to five-year-old children (52% female, 97% White, 7% Hispanic, 2019-2022), playful activities moderated the relation between parental general depression and child verbal reasoning and acquired verbal knowledge. However, there was no evidence that parental involvement moderated the association between parental mental health and child spatial reasoning. These results improve our understanding of the pathways by which parental mental health, even in a non-clinical community sample, relate to child outcomes and raise the possibility of leveraging playful activities as one mechanism to alleviate the pot

SUBMITTER: Nelson PM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11868687 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar-Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature