Mental Health of Children of Low-Income Depressed Mothers: Influences of Parenting, Family Environment, and Raters

Abstract

Purpose To extend understanding of the effects of maternal depression on children to low-income and minority families; to apply advanced analytic methods to incorporate the reports of mothers, fathers, and teachers on the emotional and behavior problems and adaptive skills of 4–10 year old urban children; and to examine parenting quality and family environment as possible explanations of high rates of problems among children whose mothers have depression compared to those whose mothers are not depressed. Methods Mothers who participated either had major depressive disorder (n=84) or did not (n=49). They were predominantly African-American or Latino and lived in low-income, urban communities. Mothers, fathers, and teachers reported on children’s emotional, behavioral and adaptive functioning. Parenting behavior and family stress were examined as potential mediators and generalized estimating equations (GEE) were employed to test mediation and to account for discrepancies in reports by different raters. Results By mother, father and teacher reports, children of depressed mothers had significantly poorer adaptive skills than children of sociodemographically-similar non-depressed mothers; and they had more emotional/behavior problems according to mothers and fathers. The quality of mothers’ parenting mediated these associations, but quality of the family environment did not. Conclusions This study extends the literature on the effects of maternal depression to low-income, minority families, and demonstrates that mothers, fathers and teachers observe worse functioning in children of depressed mothers than those of non-depressed mothers, although their perspectives vary somewhat. The impact of maternal depression suggests the importance of developing and funding services to address the needs of affected families.

Correlations between caregiver psychiatric symptoms and offspring psychopathology in a low-resource setting

“…18–20 Studies from high-income countries have pointed to a higher risk for psychiatric disorders in children of low-income depressed mothers, 14, 35 although we did not find a correlation in our sample with household income.…”

“…This result is in line with previous high-resource country studies showing that, overall, the severity of a mother’s depression is associated with her children’s psychopathology. 10, 11, 18, 35 According to Fritsch et al, 18 it is possible that the association between the severity of the mother’s illness and children’s symptoms is part of a vicious circle or bidirectional — mothers become more severely depressed because they have children with mental disorders, and children’s symptoms worsen in the presence of a mother’s depression. The results of our analysis substantiate prior findings on correlations of caregiver’s and their offspring psychopathology.…”

Parenting in the Wake of Abuse: Exploring the Mediating Role of PTSD Symptoms on the Relationship Between Parenting and Child Functioning

“…The symptom clusters are (a) ongoing psychological distress related to trauma (re-experiencing), (b) may avoid internal (thoughts/feelings) and external reminders of the trauma (avoidance), (c) may have feelings of self-blame, be estranged from others, or be significantly less interested in activities (negative cognitions and mood), and (d) may be aggressive or self-destructive, experience sleepdisturbances (arousal) (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). PTSD is often associated with depressive symptoms and substance misuse (Lagdon, Armour, & Stringer, 2014), which are also associated with negative effects on child behavior function (Riley et al, 2009).…”

Does Neighborhood Social Capital Buffer the Effects of Maternal Depression on Adolescent Behavior Problems?

“…Further, children of depressed mothers can develop internalizing problems as they mimic the mother’s depressed behaviors including facial expressions, slowed motor movements, and negative self-appraisals (Beck 1999). Depression, and the associated functional impairment, can make it difficult for a mother to provide the emotional support and parenting that will shelter her child from the negative effects of poverty (Kiernan and Huerta 2008; Riley et al 2009). Children with depressed mothers are at risk for a variety of difficulties with their social, emotional, and cognitive development (Brennan et al 2000; Hammen and Brennan 2003; Shonkoff and Phillips 2000).…”