Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Mental health among single mothers in Cyprus: a cross -sectional descriptive correlational 
study  
 
Version: 1 Date: 05 Feb 2019  
 
Reviewer: Sara Fritzell  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
Comments to Mental health among single mothers in Cyprus: a cross -sectional descriptive 
correlational study.  
This is an interesting, important and well conducted study. I have only minor comments and 
suggestion s. 
In the background is says that single mothers are mostly young (line 80) this is however not 
supported in your data, and therefore you need to either rephrase relate to the fact that this is not 
true in your sample in the discussion.  
Line 81 refers to "literature data" - suggest rephrase to "a literature review"  
In study population (row 109 -112), the aim is formulated again, as this has just been stated in the 
section before, I would suggest remove it /rephrase it here.  
In line 127, is there a reference to the expected prevalence of mental distress?  
Row 147 suggest change "childbearing" to "childrearing".  
Table 3 reports both ORs and p -values. I think it is not necessary to report both, and would 
choose to report only ORs. Also, the OR for T2 is also sign ificant, both adjusted and unadjusted 
and should be in bold, and reported in the text (rows 307 -311) 
When reporting on the results from table 4, it would be helpful if the text (now: healthy 
functioning and distress symptoms) used the same terms as the tab le, to make it easier for the 
reader, it was not clear to me which columns this corresponded to.  
 
Discussion:  
The results on socio -demographic characteristics are related back to single mothers in other 
contexts, but it would also be interesting to see how they relate to couple mothers in Cyprus 
(based on official statistics)  
Row 368 -370 repeat what is said on row 362, suggest remove row 368 -370. 
I am a bit puzzled by the finding reported in the discussion that those who have children less than 
12 years old have higher rated of poor mental health (row 365, row 446 -457), as these results are 
not supported by your findings, as I read them in table 1 (49.5 for single mothers with younger 
children and 52.8 for older, and the difference is not significant). Perhap s I misunderstand, but in 
that case I think the findings supporting the discussion in row 446 -457 needs to be clarified.  
Row 391 says it is "generally accepted that employed single mothers report higher levels of 
mental distress", but I would say this is h ighly different in different contexts - would here instead 
rather say, that: Although studies have found that employed single mothers report higher levels 
of mental distress [29]….  
Row 415 - something is missing in this first sentence, please rephrase.  
Are the methods appropriate and well described?  
If not, please specify what is required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Does the work include the necessary controls?  
If not, please specify which controls are required in your comm ents to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the data shown?  
If not, please explain in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Are you able to assess any statistics in the manuscript or would you recommend an  
additional statistical r eview?  
If an additional statistical review is recommended, please specify what aspects require further  
assessment in your comments to the editors.  
 
I am able to assess the statistics  
 
Quality of written English  
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript:  
 
Acceptable  
 
  
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