Poster #212 - Maternal Depressive Symptoms, Rumination, and Child Emotion Regulation

• In Event: 2-110 - Poster Session 07
  In Poster Session: PS 07 Section - Social, Emotional, Personality

Integrative Statement

Children of depressed mothers are at heightened risk for adverse outcomes; however, the mechanisms through which maternal depression is linked with child outcomes are not well understood. One hypothesized pathway involves exposure to maternal modeling of maladaptive emotion regulation, which can be associated with subsequent child deficits in emotion regulation (Goodman 2007). In adult studies, depression has been linked to ruminative response style, extensively focusing one’s attention on one’s negative thoughts and depressive experiences (Davis & Nolen-Hoeksema, 2000), which can serve as modeling for maladaptive emotion regulation for their children (Morris, Criss, Silk, & Houltberg, 2017). However, evidence about how children model their depressed mother’s regulation has been limited. Thus, this study examined a model of maternal rumination that links maternal depressive symptoms to child emotion regulation.
A sample of 126 mother-child dyads (65 girls) participated in the current study, for three assessment points when children were age three (T1), four (T2), and five (T3). At all assessment points, mothers reported their depressive symptoms, using the Beck Depression Inventory-2nd Edition (BDI-II; Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996), and ruminative response style, using the rumination subscale of the Response Styles Questionnaire (Nolen-Hoeksema et al., 1993). Child emotion regulation was assessed observationally from two series of laboratory tasks at all assessment points, which were designed to elicit anger and sadness, respectively. Specifically, three types of regulatory behaviors were coded: sustained attention on the task (when the child focused his/her attention on the task/stimuli, such as attempting to open the box/put in batteries, complaining about the task, and aggression towards the toys), distraction (when the child attempted to shift attention to other nondistressing stimuli, such as looking into the one-way mirror and singing), and passive behaviors (when the child waited aimlessly, such as lying down on the couch or engaging in self-soothing behaviors with half awareness). Covariates included family income, child gender, and child temperamental attentional focusing, measured by the maternal report on the attentional focusing subscale of Children's Behavioral Questionnaire (CBQ short form; Rothbart, Ahadi, Hershey & Fisher, 2001).
Data were analyzed in path analysis models . Maternal depressive symptoms were significantly correlated with concurrent rumination. The model for anger-eliciting tasks (Figure 1) fit well, χ2(96) = 154.69, p < .001; RMSEA = .070 (CI.90 = .049, .089); CFI = .952. Maternal rumination at T2 was predictive of child’s sustained attention on the task at T3. Maternal rumination at T2 was associated with less child distraction at T3. Maternal rumination was also predictive of less child passive behaviors at the next time point. The model for sadness-eliciting tasks (Figure 2) fits well, χ2(96) = 132.89, p = .008; RMSEA = .055 (CI.90 = .030, .077); CFI = .942. Only maternal rumination at T2 was associated with child sustained attention on task at T3.
Findings suggest that maternal rumination may serve as a model for children to learn maladaptive regulatory strategies among children of depressed mothers. This study has significant implications for intervention programs targeting depressed mothers and their children.

Authors

• Qiong Wu, Florida State University
  Presenting Author

• Xin Feng, The Ohio State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Micah Gerhardt, The Ohio State University
  Non-Presenting Author