Children living with a parent with a mental health problem may face additional developmental challenges and health problems, and are more likely to experience a psychological disorder during adolescence or adulthood.
The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey measures mental health using the SF-36, a 36-item survey that measures eight domains of subjective health. Scale scores for each of the eight health domains can be summarised to produce a single measure of mental health: The Mental Health Component Summary (MCS) Score. This indicator presents data for parents with an MCS score of less than 41, which is indicative of a poor level of mental health.
Trend data: For all indicator displays, the yearly trend is limited to indicators with 3 or more years (including the current year) of comparable time series data. To see the trend click on “Yearly Trend” button on the display. Where 3 or more years of comparable data including the most recent year is not available, a “No time series data” message is shown on the display.