A family cognitive-behavioral preventive intervention for parents with a history of depression and their 9–15-year-old children was compared with a self-study written information condition in a randomized clinical trial (n = 111 families). Outcomes were assessed at postintervention (2 months), after completion of 4 monthly booster sessions (6 months), and at 12-month follow-up. Children were assessed by child reports on depressive symptoms, internalizing problems, and externalizing problems; by parent reports on internalizing and externalizing problems; and by child and parent reports on a standardized diagnostic interview. Parent depressive symptoms and parent episodes of major depression also were assessed. Evidence emerged for significant differences favoring the family group intervention on both child and parent outcomes; strongest effects for child outcomes were found at the 12-month assessment with medium effect sizes on most measures. Implications for the prevention of adverse outcomes in children of depressed parents are highlighted.

In a randomized clinical trial with 111 families of parents with a history of major depressive disorder (86% mothers; 86% Caucasian), changes in adolescents’ (mean age 11 years; 42% female) coping and parents’ parenting skills were examined as mediators of the effects of a family group cognitive behavioral preventive intervention on adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Changes in hypothesized mediators were assessed at 6-months and changes in adolescents’ symptoms were measured at 12-month follow-up. Significant differences favoring the family intervention as compared with a written information comparison condition were found for changes in composite measures of parent-adolescent reports of adolescents’ use of secondary control coping skills and direct observations of parents’ positive parenting skills. Changes in adolescents’ secondary control coping and positive parenting mediated the effects of the intervention on depressive, internalizing and externalizing symptoms accounting for approximately half of the effect of the intervention on the outcomes. Further, reciprocal relations between children’s internalizing symptoms and parenting were found from baseline to 6-month follow-up. Implications for the prevention of psychopathology in offspring of depressed parents are highlighted.

Objective In a long-term follow-up of a randomized controlled trial (Compas et al., 2009), to examine the effects at 18- and 24-month follow-ups of a Family Group Cognitive Behavioral (FGCB) preventive intervention for mental health outcomes for children and parents from families (N = 111) of parents with a history of major depressive disorder (MDD). Method Parents with a history of MDD and their 9 to 15-year-old children were randomly assigned to a FGCB intervention or a Written Information (WI) comparison condition. Children’s internalizing, externalizing, anxiety/depression, and depressive symptoms, episodes of MDD and other psychiatric diagnoses, and parents’ depressive symptoms and episodes of MDD were assessed at 18- and 24-months after randomization. Results Children in the FGCB condition were significantly lower in self-reports of anxiety/depression and internalizing symptoms at 18-months and significantly lower in externalizing symptoms at 18- and 24-months. Rates of MDD were significantly lower for children in the FGCB intervention over the 24-month follow-up (odds ratio = 2.91). No significant effects were found for parents’ symptoms of depression or episodes of MDD. Conclusions Support was found for a FGCB preventive intervention for children of parents with a history of MDD significantly reducing children’s episodes of MDD over a period of 2 years. Significant effects for the FGCB intervention were also found on internalizing and externalizing symptoms, with stronger effects at 18- than at 24-month follow-up.

Building upon the link between inadequate parenting and child noncompliance, aggression, and oppositionality, behavioral parent training has been identified as a well-established treatment for externalizing problems in children. Much less empirical attention has been devoted to examining whether inadequate parenting and, in turn, behavioral parent training programs, have specific effects on child externalizing problems or more diffuse effects on both internalizing and externalizing problems. As an initial attempt to examine the specificity of parenting and childhood externalizing problems, this review examines prior research on the association of three parenting behaviors (parental warmth, hostility, and control) with child externalizing versus internalizing problems. Notably, findings revealed relatively little evidence for the specificity of parenting and child externalizing behaviors in the general parenting literature or in the family context of parent depression. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Building on an earlier study (Compas et al., 2011), tests of main effects and potential moderators of a family group cognitive-behavioral (FGCB) preventive intervention for children of parents with a history of depression are reported in a sample of 180 families (242 children ages 9-15 years) in a randomized controlled trial assessed at 2-, 6-, 12-, 18- and 24-months after baseline. Significant effects favoring the FGCB intervention over a written information (WI) comparison condition were found on measures of children's symptoms of depression, mixed anxiety/depression, internalizing problems, and externalizing problems, with multiple effects maintained at 18- and 24-months, and on incidence of child episodes of major depressive disorder over the 24-months. Effects were stronger for child self-reports than for parent-reports. Minimal evidence was found for child age, child gender, parental education, parental depressive symptoms, or presence of a current parental depressive episode at baseline as moderators of the FGCB intervention. The findings provide support for sustained and robust effects of this preventive intervention.

The specificity of the association between 2 parenting behaviors (warmth and supervision) and 2 indicators, aggressive behavior and depressive symptoms, of major child outcomes (externalizing problems and internalizing problems) was examined among 196 inner-city African American mothers and their school age children. Given the growing number of African American families affected by HIV/AIDS and demonstrated compromises in parenting associated with maternal infection, the moderating role of maternal HIV/AIDS was also examined. Findings from longitudinal analyses supported the specificity of maternal warmth but not of maternal supervision. Maternal warmth was a stronger predictor of decreases in child aggressive behavior than of decreases in depressive symptoms. In addition, maternal warmth was a stronger predictor of decreases in aggressive behavior than was maternal supervision. Parenting specificity was not moderated by maternal HIV/AIDS. Clinical implications and future research directions are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relation between parental guilt induction and child internalizing problems in families where a caregiver had experienced depression. A total of 107 families, including 146 children (age 9-15), participated. Child-reported parental guilt induction, as well as three more traditionally studied parenting behaviors (warmth/involvement, monitoring, and discipline), were assessed, as was parent-report of child internalizing problem behavior. Linear Mixed Models Analysis indicated parental guilt induction was positively related to child internalizing problems in the context of the remaining three parenting behaviors. Implications of the findings for prevention and intervention parenting programs are considered.

Coping and negative cognitive style were studied in relation to depressive symptoms in children at risk for depression. In a sample of 165 children (ages 9–15) of depressed parents, the main and interaction effects of coping and negative cognitive style were examined in association with children’s depressive symptoms measured by parent and child report on questionnaires and diagnostic interviews. Negative cognitive style was related to three types of coping (primary control, secondary control, and disengagement). Furthermore, coping and negative cognitive style made independent contributions to depressive symptoms. Little support emerged for interactive effects on depressive symptoms. Implications for future research with this high-risk population of children are considered.