DREAMup – Families growing up: a prolongation of the Dresden Study on Parenting, Work, and Mental Health

• Applicant: Professorin Susan Garthus-Niegel, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Public Health, Healthcare Research, Social and Occupational Medicine
• Term: since 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 386062777

Background and research aims: As families are a mainstay of our society, their mental health and relationships are a major public health concern. Prior literature emphasizes the need for a long-term perspective in this area (e.g., to identify change patterns across time). However, there is a lack of comprehensive longitudinal studies on families with growing children considering the perspective of both parents and, once reliably possible, also that of the children. Moreover, crucial factors influencing the intricate family dynamics remain insufficiently researched; these include perinatal factors (e.g., postnatal depression), parental distribution of (un)paid work (e.g., mental labor), work stress factors (e.g., work-family/family-work conflict), intra-family factors (e.g., parenting style), and underlying biological mechanisms (e.g., endocrine and epigenetic factors). Our highly successful, internationally recognized, prospective cohort study DREAM, the Dresden Study on Parenting, Work, and Mental Health (DResdner Studie zu Elternschaft, Arbeit und Mentaler Gesundheit) has so far covered the period from pregnancy to 4.5 years of age. Within DREAMup, we aim to prospectively investigate the impact of perinatal factors, parental role distribution, and work and stress factors on long-term mental health and relationships of German families as their children reach key milestones (i.e., primary and secondary school entrance, adolescence, age of majority). We further aim to investigate the role of mental labor, an overlooked aspect of unpaid work, which is hampered by the lack of a validated instrument. Therefore, we apply for funding for the next three years to 1) continue the DREAM study with one additional measurement point (7 years post-childbirth), which will lay the groundwork for the DREAMup follow-up assessment waves until the children reach the age of majority as well as for a sub-study in which we will interview the children themselves (DREAMkids), and 2) develop and validate a mental labor scale to assess this neglected cognitive dimension of role distribution. Methods: With quantitative surveys including validated instruments, triadic (i.e., mother-father-child) data on family mental health (e.g., parental depressive symptoms; child internalizing behavior problems), intra-family relationships (e.g., couple relationship), and core influencing factors (e.g., parental role distribution) will be collected and analyzed using sophisticated statistical methods (e.g., structural equation modeling). Relevance: Our substantial investment in the DREAM cohort (e.g., extensive resources for recruitment of 3,860 participants) now provides an excellent basis and statistical power for economically efficient very long-term follow-up studies. The unique access to a sample of families with growing children is invaluable for uncovering previously unexplained dynamics in long-term family mental health and intra-family relationships.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants