Discrimination as a Unique Contextual Risk Factor: Associations with Maternal Mental Health and Early Child Adjustment

Abstract

Discrimination is an identity-based stressor associated with poorer mental health. When experienced by parents, it can have implications for child adjustment problems as well. Less is known about whether maternal experiences of discrimination uniquely predict child adjustment beyond broader contextual risk or whether these associations operate through maternal mental health. This study examined longitudinal pathways linking maternal discrimination, maternal mental health, and child adjustment, while accounting for contextual risk. Participants were 142 first-time mothers from low-income backgrounds in the greater Seattle area recruited during pregnancy. Mothers completed assessments of maternal discrimination, maternal mental health, child adjustment, and broader contextual risk across four time points spanning pregnancy through early childhood. Path analyses tested direct and indirect pathways among maternal discrimination, maternal mental health, and child adjustment. Greater experiences of discrimination predicted higher maternal mental health symptoms after accounting for broader contextual risk. Higher maternal mental health symptoms, in turn, predicted greater child adjustment problems. Maternal discrimination also demonstrated significant indirect effects on child adjustment through maternal mental health. Findings suggest that maternal experiences of discrimination may function as a distinct interpersonal stressor with implications for maternal psychological functioning and early child adjustment. Results highlight pathways through which discrimination-related stress may become developmentally consequential for children.