Dataset Information

Parenting mediates the impact of maternal depression on child internalizing symptoms.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:To examine the potential mediating role of parenting behaviors in the longitudinal, bidirectional relationships between maternal depression and child internalizing symptoms (i.e. depression and anxiety). METHODS:We analyzed data from 4,581 mother-child dyads from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, assessed when the child was 3, 5, and 9 years old. Data included maternal depression diagnosis, child internalizing symptoms, and parenting behaviors (i.e. psychological aggression, nonviolent discipline, and physical assault). Data were analyzed using cross-lagged panel models. RESULTS:Results indicated bidirectional relationships between maternal depression and child internalizing symptoms over childhood. Mediation analyses suggested that maternal depression led to subsequent increased psychological aggression toward their child, which in turn led to increased child internalizing symptoms. Nonviolent discipline and physical assault did not mediate this relationship. However, greater use of nonviolent discipline at age 5 among all parents predicted higher child internalizing symptoms at age 9. No parenting behaviors were both predicted by earlier child internalizing symptoms and predictive of subsequent maternal depression. CONCLUSIONS:Our results suggest a bidirectional relationship between child and maternal internalizing psychopathology that is partially explained by depressed mothers' greater use of psychological aggression toward their children. It is important to note that the size of these effects were small, suggesting that the relationship between parent and child psychopathology is likely additionally explained by factors not assessed in the current study. Nonetheless, these results have implications for prevention and intervention strategies targeting child anxiety and depression.

SUBMITTER: Kuckertz JM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5760303 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Parenting mediates the impact of maternal depression on child internalizing symptoms.

Kuckertz Jennie M JM Mitchell Colter C Wiggins Jillian Lee JL

Depression and anxiety 20170929 1

<h4>Background</h4>To examine the potential mediating role of parenting behaviors in the longitudinal, bidirectional relationships between maternal depression and child internalizing symptoms (i.e. depression and anxiety).<h4>Methods</h4>We analyzed data from 4,581 mother-child dyads from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, assessed when the child was 3, 5, and 9 years old. Data included maternal depression diagnosis, child internalizing symptoms, and parenting behaviors (i.e. psycho ...[more]

PMID: 28962070

Similar Datasets

Project description:Ecological stress during adolescent development may increase the sensitivity to negative emotional processes that can contribute to the onset and progression of internalizing behaviors during preadolescence. Although a small number of studies have considered the link among the relations between ecological stress, amygdala reactivity, and internalizing symptoms in childhood and adolescence, these studies have largely been small, cross-sectional, and often do not consider unique roles of parenting or sex. In the current study, we evaluated the interrelations between ecological stress, amygdala reactivity, subsequent internalizing symptoms, and the moderating roles of parenting and sex among 9- and 10-year-old preadolescents from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study ®. A subset of participants who met a priori quality control criteria for bilateral amygdala activation during the EN-back faces versus places contrast (N = 7,385; Mean Age = 120 months, SD = 7.52; 49.5% Female) were included in the study. A confirmatory factor analysis was performed to create a latent variable of ecological stress, and multiple structural equation models were tested to evaluate the association among baseline ecological stress and internalizing symptoms one year later, the mediating role of amygdala reactivity, and moderating effects of parental acceptance and sex. The results revealed a significant association between ecological stress and subsequent internalizing symptoms, which was greater in males than females. There was no association between amygdala reactivity during the Faces versus Places contrast and ecological stress or subsequent internalizing symptoms, and no mediating role of amygdala or moderating effect of parental acceptance on the association between ecological stress and internalizing symptoms. An alternative mediation model was tested which revealed that there was a small mediating effect of parental acceptance on the association between ecological stress and internalizing symptoms, demonstrating lower internalizing symptoms among preadolescents one year later. Given the lack of association in brain function, ecological stress and internalizing symptoms in preadolescents in this registered report, effects from comparable small studies should be reconsidered in larger samples.

Project description:ImportanceFew studies from low-and-middle income countries have investigated long-term associations between maternal postnatal depression and offspring internalizing (ie, depressive and anxiety) symptoms, and none have investigated interactions in this association.ObjectiveTo investigate the association between maternal postnatal depression and offspring internalizing symptoms from adolescence to adulthood and the interaction with exposure to socioeconomic adversity and with the child's sex.Design, setting, and participantsThis secondary analysis used data from Birth to Twenty Plus (BT20+), a prospective birth cohort study of children born in Soweto, South Africa, and followed up until age 28 years. Data were collected from 1990 to 2018, and data were analyzed for this study from February 16 through December 15, 2020.ExposuresMaternal postnatal depression self-reported by mothers 6 months after childbirth.Main outcomes and measuresThe main outcome was offspring internalizing symptoms, assessed at offspring ages 14 years, 22 years, and 28 years and modeled longitudinally. Participants with the highest probability of experiencing high internalizing symptoms (ie, those in the top 20% of the distribution) from age 14 to 28 years were categorized as belonging to the high internalizing symptoms trajectory (vs the low trajectory). Socioeconomic adversity was measured with an index (continuous variable) including low maternal education, household crowding, low assets, and low maternal age. This variable was further stratified into more than 1 SD above the mean index, more than 1 SD below the mean index, and from 1 SD below to 1 SD above the mean index to conduct subgroup analyses. Associations were investigated using multivariable regression models.ResultsAmong 1087 participants born in Soweto, South Africa (543 [50.0%] male participants; 544 [50.0%] female participants), 118 individuals (10.8%) showed a high trajectory of internalizing symptoms from age 14 to 28 years vs 969 individuals (89.1%) with a low trajectory. Children exposed to maternal postnatal depression had statistically significantly increased odds of following the high trajectory (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] per 1-SD increase in maternal postnatal depression, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.02-1.41). This increase in odds differed by exposure to socioeconomic adversity and by child sex: for male participants, the increase in odds was greater in a context of higher vs lower socioeconomic adversity (eg, for >1 SD above the mean: aOR, 3.28; 95% CI, 1.06-10.14 vs for >1 SD below the mean: aOR, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.64-1.50; P for interaction = .12), while for female participants, the increase in odds was greater in a context of lower vs higher socioeconomic adversity (eg, for >1 SD below the mean: aOR, 1.82; 95 % CI, 1.12-2.98 vs for >1 SD above the mean: aOR, 0.59; 95 % CI, 0.30-1.17; P for interaction = .002) (P for 3-way interaction = .003).Conclusions and relevanceThis study found that postnatal depression was associated with higher odds of persistently increased internalizing symptoms among offspring from adolescence to adulthood in a middle-income country, with variation by socioeconomic adversity and sex. These findings suggest that better understanding of these associations is needed to implement targeted interventions and maximize the impact of public health initiatives aimed at breaking the intergenerational transmission of mental health problems.

Dataset Information

Parenting mediates the impact of maternal depression on child internalizing symptoms.

Publications

Parenting mediates the impact of maternal depression on child internalizing symptoms.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets