| dc.description | Depressed mood in mothers and adjustment problems in children are common conditions that share mutual influences. Previous research is inconclusive about whether maternal depression tends to precede or follow child adjustment problems and whether their antecedent-consequence conditions vary across domains of child functioning, dimensions of maternal mood, and between frequent fluctuations in functioning and stable underlying symptomatology. Two studies were undertaken to study mutual influences and temporal relations between maternal depressed mood and adjustment problems in children. In Study 1, maternal depressive symptoms and internalising and externalising child symptoms were studied in three waves of panel data collected over four years from a nationally representative sample of Canadian families (N = 20,428). Cross-lagged panel correlations showed that maternal depressive symptoms tended to precede, more than follow, child aggression and hyperactivity but tended to follow, more than precede child emotional problems. Logistic regression showed bidirectional risk between maternal mood and child adjustment, after earlier symptoms were statistically controlled. In Study 2, 30 mothers provided daily reports during eight consecutive weeks on their mood and their child's inattention/impulsiveness and opposition/defiance (623 pooled observations). Pooled time-series analyses showed synchronous fluctuations in difficult child behaviour and maternal distress. Time-lagged models indicated that antecedent-consequence conditions in maternal mood and externalising child behaviour varied according to the type of maternal mood (e.g., depression, frustration, fatigue) and child behaviour (e.g., hyperactivity, defiance) involved and the severity of child behaviour. Results were interpreted in the context of mechanisms that mediate risk and resilience in the intergenerational transfer of psychopathology. Findings implicated the emotional functioning of mothers in the aetiology of child maladjustment and the deleterious impact of disruptive child behaviour on depressed mood in mothers, underscoring the role of family influences in the assessment and treatment of common psychological problems. | en_US |
