Early Family Influences on Mental Health Competence and Difficulties for Children From Priority Populations

Child mental health competence and difficulties are distributed inequitably. Children from priority populations (rural children, children experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage, children from visible minorities) are disproportionately affected by systemic barriers impacting mental health. To develop effective equity‐focused strategies, it's essential to understand the distribution and shared/unique drivers of mental health outcomes for these groups. Using data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression models examined the association between family protective factors (e.g., parenting practices, home learning) at 2–3 years and mental health competence and difficulties at 6–7 years for each population. Compared to the overall population, children experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage had the lowest proportion of competence (16%) and the highest proportion of difficulties (32%). There was variability in the factors associated with competence and difficulties across populations. Despite variability, parenting self‐efficacy (OR range: 1.16–2.48) and low parent psychological distress (OR range: 0.28–0.44) were common across all populations. Children experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage are a key population to target strategies promoting competence and protecting against difficulties. Common protective factors provide opportunities for intervention; however, variation in protective factors highlights the need to provide purpose‐built responses to support competence and address difficulties, ensuring mental health equity.