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Maternal depressive symptoms, mother-child interactions, and children's executive function.

ABSTRACT: This study examined the independent and mediated associations between maternal depression symptoms (MDS), mother-child interaction, and child executive function (EF) in a prospective longitudinal sample of 1,037 children (50% boys) from predominantly low-income and rural communities. When children were 6, 15 and 24 months of age, mothers reported their level of depressive symptomatology. At 24 and 36 months of age, mother-child interactions during play were rated for warmth-sensitivity and harsh-intrusiveness, and dyadic joint attention and maternal language complexity were assessed from a book sharing activity. Children's EF (i.e., inhibitory control, working memory, and set shifting) were assessed at ages 36 and 48 months using a battery of six tasks. Results indicated that MDS at ages 15 and 24 months were negatively associated with children's EF at age 48 months. Additionally, harsh-intrusive mother-child interactions partially mediated this link. Although warmth-sensitivity, dyadic joint attention and maternal language complexity were all longitudinally related to EF, they did not serve as mediating mechanisms between MDS and EF. These results were obtained while controlling for multiple demographic factors, children's earlier cognitive abilities, maternal general distress and childcare experiences. Findings from this study identify 1 mechanism through which early exposure to MDS could be related to children's EF. (PsycINFO Database Record

SUBMITTER: Gueron-Sela N

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5750080 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Maternal depressive symptoms, mother-child interactions, and children's executive function.

Gueron-Sela Noa N Camerota Marie M Willoughby Michael T MT Vernon-Feagans Lynne L Cox Martha J MJ

Developmental psychology 20170921 1

This study examined the independent and mediated associations between maternal depression symptoms (MDS), mother-child interaction, and child executive function (EF) in a prospective longitudinal sample of 1,037 children (50% boys) from predominantly low-income and rural communities. When children were 6, 15 and 24 months of age, mothers reported their level of depressive symptomatology. At 24 and 36 months of age, mother-child interactions during play were rated for warmth-sensitivity and harsh ...[more]

PMID: 28933882

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Project description:BackgroundThe associations among maternal depressive symptoms (MDS), mother-child interactions and early child development are poorly understood. This study aimed to explore the role of mother-child interactions on the associations between MDS and child development.MethodsA cross-sectional study with a multistage sampling method was conducted in rural areas of Central and Western China. MDS, child development outcomes (communication, gross motor function, fine motor function, problem solving and personal social skills) and mother-child interactions were assessed by The Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale, the Chinese version of the Ages and Stages Questionnaires and the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys, respectively. Regression-based statistical mediation and moderation were conducted using the PROCESS macro for SPSS.ResultsA total of 2,548 participants (mothers: 1,274; children: 1,274) were included in our analyses. MDS was negatively associated with child development outcomes and mother-child interactions partly mediated these associations. The proportion of the mediating effect of mother-child interactions was 7.7% for communication, 8.2% for gross motor, 10.3% for fine motor, 10.1% for problem-solving and 9.5% for personal social domains. In addition, the interaction effects of MDS and mother-child interactions on the communication domain were significant (β = 0.070, 95% CI 0.016, 0.124; p = 0.011). The associations between MDS and child communication abilities were weaker at the high level (simple slope = -0.019, t = - 0.458, p = 0.647) of mother-child interactions than at the mean level (simple slope = -0.089, t = - 3.190, p = 0.002) and the low level (simple slope = -0.158, t = - 4.231, p < 0.001). Similar moderating effects were not observed in the other child development outcomes.ConclusionOur results suggest the important role of mother-child interactions on the associations between MDS and early childhood development. Due to the cross-sectional design of this study, these associations require further investigation in prospective studies.

Dataset Information

Maternal depressive symptoms, mother-child interactions, and children's executive function.

Publications

Maternal depressive symptoms, mother-child interactions, and children's executive function.

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