Association of parental depression with educational outcomes in Indonesian children aged 6–12 years: A cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Psychological factors affecting children have received less attention in relation to continued education, particularly among elementary school-aged children. This study aimed to investigate the association between parental depression and educational outcomes in children aged 6–12 years.
Methods: This study was conducted using data from the Indonesian Family Life Survey. Children aged 6–12 years living with their parents were included in the study. The outcome variable was school dropout. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale was used to assess parental depression as the independent variable. Multivariate logistic regression was performed with covariate adjustments to determine the association of parental depression with educational outcomes.
Results: Approximately 8.7% of the children dropped out of school, with the prevalence being higher among the boys (11.6%) than among the girls (5.5%). After being adjusted for covariates, maternal depression was found to be associated with an increased risk of school dropout, particularly when it occurred during the children’s toddlerhood and childhood (odds ratio=1.97; 95% confidence interval=1.04–3.74; P=0.037). In contrast, paternal depression was not associated with an increased risk of school dropout.
Conclusion: These findings suggest that maternal depression significantly influences the likelihood of school dropout among children.