Adverse Factors Impacting Children’s Mental Health

Children’s mental health is a priceless commodity. Children with positive mental health can learn more, know more, and do more. Promoting and protecting childhood mental health, therefore, plays a vital part in the furtherance of society. To promote and protect childhood mental health, however, one must know the factors that adversely affect it.

A healthcare company in California did a groundbreaking study to uncover factors that affect health. Known as the adverse childhood experience, or ACE, study, it identified ten factors that contributed to poor health, including poor mental health (Center for Disease Control, n.d.; NumberStory.org, n.d.). These include emotional abuse, physical abuse, and sexual abuse; emotional neglect and physical neglect; and household challenges of divorce, incarceration, substance use, domestic violence, and mental illness. The more ACEs a person has, the greater likelihood of poor health outcomes.

Adverse experiences can have unique adverse effects on children, since children rely on adults to care for them. Abuse and neglect can contribute to disorganized caregiver relationships and a lack of resources needed to pursue learning (Meridian Healthcare, 2023; Mental Health America, n.d.; NSPCC, 2024). Lack of learning, in turn, may adversely affect development, and mental health. Abuse and neglect can also negatively impact physical health, which can downgrade mental health. Poor nutrition, for example, correlates with poorer mental heath (O’Neil et al., 2014). Adverse home experiences may predispose children to being bullied, another contributor to poor mental health (Abrams, 2023; American Psychological Association, 2022; Mental Health Foundation, 2021; World Health Organization). In short, the downstream effects of abuse and neglect are myriad.

Parent relational difficulties also affect children. As a result of parent relational struggles, children may lack nurturing (Meridian Healthcare, 2023; Mental Health America, n.d.; NSPCC, 2024). Parents who are unable to model and sustain healthy interactions may predispose children to do the same, resulting in poor mental health for all members of the family. Relational instability may also result in an unstable environment for children and unhealthy rhythms of life, potentially leading to anxiety, aggression, and regression.

Mental illness in parents affects child mental health in several ways. It can genetically predispose children to mental health struggles (Meridian Healthcare, 2023; Mental Health America, n.d.; NSPCC, 2024). It can also result in parent employment struggles, poverty, and placement in care, all of which adversely affect children.

Life stressors in general can contribute to poor mental health, if not mitigated. For example, some children may struggle with changes such as moving or going to a different school (Mental Health Foundation, 2021). Body changes may unsettle others, and these changes are part of normal life processes such as puberty. Children can experience difficulties due to the death of a loved one (Abrams, 2023). Children can struggle to understand and metabolize discrimination due to disability, race, and gender identity. Overall stressors due to traumatic experiences, such as natural disasters, can adversely affect children (Bhandari, 2024; World Health Organization, n.d.; Mental Health Foundation, 2021). There is no shortage of hard experiences that children may endure.

Naming the many factors that can adversely affect childhood mental health can lead to discouragement. Identifying negative environments for children, however, can also lead to reducing them, and/or putting into place protective factors. For all the adversity that children can experience, there are as many, or more, positive contributors to childhood mental health, and those are the things that the world needs to increase.