The unique effects of maternal and paternal depressive symptoms on youth's symptomatology: Moderation by family ethnicity, family structure, and child gender (original) (raw)
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Links Between Adolescents’ and Parents’ Depressive Symptoms in Mexican-origin Families
2021
The present study examined associations between depressive symptoms among mothers, fathers, and adolescents and considered whether different associations emerged by parent and adolescent gender. In addition, the combination of maternal and paternal depressive symptoms was examined in relation to adolescents’ depressive symptoms. Participants were 246 families of Mexican-origin in two-parent households who resided in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Data were collected during home interviews at Time 1 and phone calls with adolescents at Time 2. Findings revealed concurrent bivariate associations between adolescents’ and mothers’ and fathers’ depressive symptoms. Further, mothers’ depressive symptoms predicted increases in adolescents’ symptoms two years later. However, there were no significant gender differences, and the combination of mothers’ and fathers’ depressive symptoms did not predict adolescents’ depressive symptoms. These findings contribute to understanding the interrelations between Mexican-origin mothers’, fathers’, and adolescents’ depressive symptoms.
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 2010
The current prospective study investigated transactional relations between maternal depressive symptoms and children's depressive and externalizing symptoms. Participants included 240 children (M age=11.86 years, SD=0.56; 53.9% female) and their mothers who were part of a 6-year longitudinal study. Measures of maternal depression (Beck Depression Inventory), child depression (Children's Depression Inventory), and children's externalizing symptoms (Youth Self-Report Form) were assessed annually. Data analyses using dynamic latent difference score structural equation models indicated that the observed relations between mothers' and adolescents' symptoms were stable across the 6 years. Higher levels of maternal depressive symptoms predicted subsequent elevations in children's depressive symptoms and in their externalizing problems over time. Among mothers with high initial levels of depression, children's depressive symptoms predicted subsequent declines in mothers' depressive symptoms. Children's externalizing problems were not related to subsequent change in maternal symptoms.
Mexican-Origin Youths' Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms: The Role of Familism Values
Journal of Adolescent Health, 2013
Purpose: To describe Mexican-origin youths' trajectories of depressive symptoms from early to late adolescence and examine the role of three aspects of familism values: supportive, obligation, and referent. Methods: Mexican-origin adolescents (N ¼ 492) participated in home interviews and provided self-reports of depressive symptoms and cultural values at four assessments across an 8-year span. Using a cohort sequential design and accounting for the nesting within the 246 families (two youths per family), we examined depressive symptoms from ages 12 to 22 years and the within-person, between-sibling, and between-family effects of familism values. Results: Mexican-origin males' depressive symptoms decreased across adolescence, whereas females' symptoms exhibited a cubic pattern of change. Results revealed that increases in supportive and referent familism values within individuals and across families were related to lower levels of depressive symptoms. Findings were most pronounced for referent familism values, as a between-sibling effect also emerged. Obligation familism values were not associated with depressive symptoms. Conclusions: Our findings provide important descriptive information about Mexican-origin youths' depressive symptoms and highlight the promotive role of familism values.
Journal of youth and adolescence, 2018
Intergenerational continuity in depressive symptoms is well established between mother and child, but there are still important facets of this relationship that are underexplored. We examine intergenerational continuity in depressive symptoms between mother-child dyads as a flexible function of child age and account for the potential moderating role of maternal co-morbid health risk behaviors. Using prospective, self-report data collected yearly from 413 mother-child dyads (210 mother-son dyads and 203 mother-daughter dyads) between child ages 12-17, the results indicate that the effect of maternal depressive symptoms on daughters' depressive symptoms steadily increases throughout adolescence whereas the effect of maternal depressive symptoms on sons' depressive symptoms is relatively small, stable, and non-significant during mid-adolescence before increasing in effect in later adolescence. A positive interactive effect between maternal depressive symptoms and intimate partn...
Long-Term Effects of Fathers' Depressed Mood on Youth Internalizing Symptoms in Early Adulthood
Journal of Research on Adolescence, 2014
While an accumulating body of research has documented increased risk for psychopathology among children of depressed fathers, most studies have used cross-sectional design and little is known about offspring outcomes beyond childhood. Using prospective data from a community sample (N = 395), we found that paternal depressive symptoms when children were in early adolescence (age 13) predicted offspring depressive and anxiety symptoms at age 21, controlling for baseline youth symptoms, maternal depressive symptoms, and other known correlates of internalizing problems in early adulthood. Associations were not moderated by maternal depressive symptoms or child gender. These results suggest that the unique and long-term effects of paternal depression on children's risk for mood disorders may persist into adulthood. Children of depressed parents are at increased risk for psychiatric disorders and developmental difficulties (for reviews,
Journal of abnormal child psychology, 2017
Maternal depression is a well-documented risk factor for youth depression, and taking into account its severity and chronicity may provide important insight into the degree of risk conferred. This study explored the degree to which the severity/chronicity of maternal depression history explained variance in youth internalizing and externalizing symptoms above and beyond current maternal depressive symptoms among 171 youth (58 % male) ages 8 to 12 over a span of 3 years. Severity and chronicity of past maternal depression and current maternal depressive symptoms were examined as predictors of parent-reported youth internalizing and externalizing symptomatology, as well as youth self-reported depressive symptoms. Severity and chronicity of past maternal depression did not account for additional variance in youth internalizing and externalizing symptoms at Time 1 beyond what was accounted for by maternal depressive symptoms at Time 1. Longitudinal growth curve modeling indicated that p...
Transactions between Maternal and Child Depressive Symptoms Emerge Early in Life
Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 2019
Objective:Maternal depression is a robust risk factor for children’s internalizing symptoms, however the intergenerational transmission of mood disorders is likely more complex than unidirectional, parent-directed effects. Theoretical models support transactional associations between maternal and child symptomatology over time, but have not been well examined, especially in younger, high-risk samples. The present investigation examined predictive transactional relations between maternal depression and children’s internalizing in toddlerhood and early childhood using a cross-lagged panel model.Method:Participants were 162 low-income, largely racial/ethnic minority mothers and their offspring (32% African American, 16% White, 52% Multiethnic/Other; 53% female) who were assessed when children were 18 months and 4 years old.Results:There were significant cross-sectional relations between maternal depressive and child internalizing symptoms when children were 18 months, but not 4 years of age. Cross-lagged associations were evident such that maternal depression symptoms at 18 months were positively associated with internalizing symptoms among children at 4 years, adjusting for prior maternal symptom levels and the cross-sectional correlations between maternal-child symptoms at 18 months. Within the same model, children’s internalizing symptoms at 18 months were also positively associated with maternal depressive symptoms at 4 years, adjusting for prior child symptom levels and cross-sectional correlations.Conclusions:This study is among the first to demonstrate that transactional relations between maternal and child mood symptoms occur as early as toddlerhood/early childhood. Findings highlight the potential utility of inclusive, family-focused interventions that support both parents and children in the treatment of early emotional problems.
A Developmental-Contextual Model of Depressive Symptoms in Mexican-Origin Female Adolescents
Developmental Psychology, 2012
The current study tested a developmental-contextual model of depressive symptomatology among Mexican-origin, female early and middle adolescents and their mothers. The final sample comprised 271 dyads. We examined the interrelations among cultural (i.e., acculturation dissonance), developmental (i.e., pubertal development and autonomy expectation discrepancies), and interpersonal (i.e., motherdaughter conflict and maternal supportive parenting) factors in predicting adolescents' depressive symptoms. For both early and middle adolescents, maternal support was negatively associated with mother-daughter conflict and depressive symptoms. Mother-daughter autonomy expectation discrepancies were positively associated with mother-daughter conflict, but this association was found only among early adolescents. Further, mother-daughter acculturation dissonance was positively associated with mother-daughter conflict but only among middle adolescents. Findings call for concurrently examining the interface of developmental, relational, and cultural factors in predicting female adolescents' depressive symptomatology and the potential differences by developmental stage (e.g., early vs. middle adolescence).
Understanding depressed mood in the context of a family-oriented culture
Adolescence, 2003
This study examined the contribution of individual and family variables to depressive symptoms among youths in a family-centered culture. Participants were 262 Mexican adolescents (mean age = 15.9 years). At the individual level, gender (being female) and higher levels of perceived stressfulness of life events and ruminative coping style were correlated with higher frequency of depressive symptoms. At the family level, higher levels of perceived parental warmth and acceptance and parental monitoring were correlated with lower levels of depressed mood, whereas higher levels of parent-adolescent conflict were associated with greater frequency of depressive symptoms. Regression analyses confirmed our prediction that both individual factors (gender, ruminative coping) and family factors (parental warmth and parental monitoring) would make unique contributions to depressive symptoms. The model comprised of individual and family variables accounted for 50% of the variance in depressed moo...