Mothers have a vital role in children’s mental health and families staying together, new research suggests.
According to a study by the UK’s Marriage Foundation in conjunction with Lincoln University, a mother’s happiness is nearly twice as important as a father’s when it comes to family life and the chances of a couple staying together.
The findings are based on the Millennium Cohort Study, which tracked 13,000 married and cohabiting couples, starting nine months after the birth of their child in 2000-1.
Happy mothers were more likely to have children who remained mentally well, to remain close to their teenage daughters, and more likely to have a stable relationship with partner, the study found, while fathers’ happiness had no bearing on their children’s mental health.
“Despite all the social changes of the last 50 years, whether we like it or not, there is an ingredient for keeping the whole family happy, which is only available from the mother or mother figure,” Marriage Foundation founder Sir Paul Coleridge said.
