Child Trends has just released a new research brief of the importance of emotional support for mothers. They found that "emotional support for mothers improves outcomes for children, even when controlling for family structure, income, gender, race/ethnicity, and child's age. Children whose mothers reported receiving emotional support during childrearing were more likely to be engaged in school and exhibit social competence than children whose mothers did not receive emotional support. The same pattern held true for internalizing behaviors; children were less likely to display internalizing behaviors if their mothers had received emotional support.  Findings from this brief suggest that providing emotional support for mothers may serve to protect children in both disadvantaged and advantaged families from negative outcomes."