Counseling-Seeking Among Mothers of School-Age Children: Does It Reduce Adolescent Depressive Symptoms? (Poster 16)

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Five
  In Poster Session: Division E Counseling Poster Session

Abstract

We examined to extent to which counseling seeking among mothers of school-age children ameliorated the associations between maternal depression and adolescent depressive symptoms in a sample of primarily low-income and racial minority families, using public data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Results showed that, with childhood depression being controlled, only maternal counseling seeking behavior in Wave 5 was significantly associated with adolescent depressive symptoms in Wave 6. Adolescents whose mothers received counseling in Wave 5 had higher levels of depressive symptoms in Wave 6 than their peers whose mothers did not receive counseling. Since only 35% of the depressed mothers received counseling or other services, they might have constituted a particularly high-risk group or severely depressed group.

Authors

• Yudan Wang, North Carolina A&T State University
  Presenting Author

• Ulisha Fraser Reese, North Carolina A&T State University
  Presenting Author