Parenting as a Moderator of the Effects of Maternal Depressive Symptoms on Preadolescent Adjustment

Abstract

Objective The purpose of this study was to examine whether parenting moderated the association between maternal depressive symptoms and initial levels and growth of preadolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Method This study used a community sample of pre-adolescent children (N=214; 8–12 years old at Time 1), measuring maternal depressive symptoms and parenting at Time 1, and preadolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms at each year for 3 years. Results After modeling latent growth curves of internalizing and externalizing symptoms, growth factors were conditioned on maternal depressive symptoms, positive (acceptance and consistent discipline) and negative (rejection and physical punishment) parenting, and the interactions of depression and parenting. Maternal rejection moderated the relation of maternal depression with internalizing symptoms, such that high rejection exacerbated the effects of maternal depressive symptoms on initial levels of preadolescent internalizing problems. There were no significant interactions predicting externalizing problems. Conclusion The findings highlight how specific parenting behaviors may alter the way in which maternal depressive symptoms confer risk for behavior problems.

Behavioral problems and their relationship to maternal depression, marital relationships, social skills and parenting

“…Positive parenting practices are a protective factor and promote child social skills (Rovaris & Bolsoni-Silva, 2018), a piece of information corroborated here; these variables appear correlated in this study. As expected, negative parenting practices were strongly associated with reports of behavioral problems, an association that was identified in both groups, regardless of the presence of maternal depression, which agrees with the findings reported by other studies (Dow-Fleisner, 2018;Silk et al, 2011;Pizeta et al, 2013;Rovaris & Bolsoni-Silva, 2018;Trepat et al, 2014;Vafaeenejad et al, 2018;Zalewski et al, 2017). Note, however, that the scores concerning the indicators of depression obtained by the sample of mothers with indicators of depression were not associated with the indicators of children's behaviors, which seems to disagree with the literature (Conners-Burrow et al, 2016;Pizeta et al, 2013;Silk et al, 2011;Trepat et al, 2014;Zalewski et al, 2017).…”

“…As expected, negative parenting practices were strongly associated with reports of behavioral problems, an association that was identified in both groups, regardless of the presence of maternal depression, which agrees with the findings reported by other studies (Dow-Fleisner, 2018;Silk et al, 2011;Pizeta et al, 2013;Rovaris & Bolsoni-Silva, 2018;Trepat et al, 2014;Vafaeenejad et al, 2018;Zalewski et al, 2017). Note, however, that the scores concerning the indicators of depression obtained by the sample of mothers with indicators of depression were not associated with the indicators of children's behaviors, which seems to disagree with the literature (Conners-Burrow et al, 2016;Pizeta et al, 2013;Silk et al, 2011;Trepat et al, 2014;Zalewski et al, 2017). In the total sample, maternal depression was inversely proportional to positive practices (Dow-Fleisner, 2018;Silk et al, 2011;Pizeta et al, 2013;Trepat et al, 2014;Vafaeenejad et al, 2018;Zalewski et al, 2017) and directly related to children's social skills Table 4 Simple linear regression analysis with only externalizing behavior problems as the dependent variable (n = 13, and nonclinical-n = 21) and the following independent variables: maternal depression, positive parenting practices, negative parenting practices, quality of marital relationship, children's social skills, and mothers' reports of problems Table 5 Simple linear regression analysis with internalizing and externalizing comorbidities as the dependent variable (n = 13, and non-clinical-n = 21) and the following independent variables: maternal depression, positive parenting practices, negative parenting practices, quality of marital relationship, children's social skills, and mothers' reports of problems (Rovaris & Bolsoni-Silva, 2018), which in turn were inversely proportional to indicators of behavioral problems (Rovaris & Bolsoni-Silva, 2018).…”

“…Only bi-parental families were included because that is a variable that influences child behavior and parental practices (Cerveira, 2015;Crestani et al, 2013). It is known that merely having a bi-parental family does not ensure good child development, considering the complexity of conditions involved in a family environment, such as (a) problematic parental practices (Dow-Fleisner, 2018;Hameister et al, 2015;Silk et al, 2011;Trepat et al, 2014;Vafaeenejad et al, 2018;Winsper et al, 2015;Zalewski et al, 2017), (b) difficult marital relationships (Vafaeenejad et al, 2018;Winsper et al, 2015), and (c) mental health problems faced by parents (Ahun et al, 2017;Cilino et al, 2018;Silk et al, 2011;Zalewski et al, 2017) and mental health problems experienced by children (Winsper et al, 2015).…”

“…The results show that maladaptive parenting and family adversity mediated associations between prenatal anxiety/depression and borderline personality disorder among children aged 11 and 12 years old. Zalewski et al (2017) conducted a longitudinal study to address inconsistent discipline and child rejection by monitoring 214 American families with children aged from 8 to 12 years old for 3 years. The study reports that maternal depressive symptoms were positively correlated with inconsistent discipline and rejection, as well as with children's internalizing and externalizing problems.…”

Parenting as a moderator of the effects of cumulative risk on children's social–emotional adjustment and academic readiness

“…Supplementing this relatively limited literature on cumulative risk and parenting are a number of studies that have found parenting to moderate other specific risk exposures that also threaten children's well-being. In terms of exacerbating factors, harsh or rejecting parenting and family conflict have been shown to moderate the relation between parents' and children's mental health outcomes (Conners-Burrow et al, 2013;Zalewski, Thompson, & Lengua, 2017). On the other hand, several studies have documented protective effects of positive parenting in contexts of violence exposure and abuse (Afifi & MacMillan, 2011;Corbett, 2013;Garrido & Taussig, 2013).…”