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Prevalence of parental mental illness in Australian families

Darryl John Maybery, Senior Lecturer

*School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga 2650, Australia, email: dmaybery{at}csu.edu.au

Andrea E. Reupert, Lecturer

School of Education, Charles Sturt University

Kent Patrick, Lecturer

School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Charles Sturt University

Melinda Goodyear, Adjunct Lecturer

School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Charles Sturt University

Lin Crase, Associate Professor and Head of Campus

LaTrobe University, Australia

AIMS AND METHOD

To provide multiple estimates of the numbers of Australian and Victorian families and children living in families where a parent has had a mental illness. We used the Australian Bureau of Statistics Victorian Mental Health Branch service usage and data collected from 701 community participants to triangulate prevalence information.

RESULTS

According to population estimates, 23.3% of all children in Australia have a parent with a non-substance mental illness, 20.4% of mental health service users have dependent children and 14.4% of the community study participants report having at least one parent with a mental illness.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

The multiple prevalence estimates of the numbers of children in families with parental mental illness provide fundamental information for psychiatric policy, planning and programming.