Poster #53 - Child executive functioning and the association between parent and child mental health problems

• In Event: 3-003 - Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Section - Developmental Psychopathology

Integrative Statement

Children who are exposed to parental mental illness are found to be at a heightened risk of negative outcomes (Reupert & Maybery, 2007). One such risk is the development of both externalizing and internalizing behavioral problems for the child (Connell & Goodman, 2002). However, little is known about the role that child factors play in the relation between parental mental health and child behavioral problems. One specific area that could influence the association between parental and child mental health is the child’s executive functioning (EF), or a set of mental skills that helps manage processes such as attention and working memory (Zelazo & Müller, 2002). The current study aims to determine whether a child’s EF accounts for the relationship between parental mental health and child mental health.
The children in this study were part of a broader project examining behavioral and neurobiological markers of childhood depression and anxiety and were recruited to represent a continuum of low to high presence of psychopathology. A subset of the original study participants were contacted one to two years after their initial lab visit to participate in a follow-up study of self-regulation and psychopathology. The current sub-study was made up of 27 children (11 male, 16 females), now ages seven to nine. The parents were most-commonly Caucasian (51.9%), married (70.4%), and have completed at least their Bachelors Degree (81.4%; see Table 1 for participant characteristics). EF, attention, and cognitive flexibility were assessed in children by administering the NIH Toolbox Dimensional Change Card Sort Test (DCCS; Zelazo et al., 2013). Parents reported on their own mental health (composite of Beck Anxiety Inventory, Steer & Beck, 1997, and Beck Depression Inventory, Beck et al., 1996) as well as their child's emotional and behavioral problems on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach, 1991).
We tested the mediation using a stepwise regression model, controlling for age. The first step revealed a trend level effect of parent depression and anxiety symptoms on total child behavioral problems (b = 1.62, SEb= .838, β = .382, p = .065). When child EF was added to the model in step two, child EF significantly predicted child behavior problems (b = -.432, SEb= .174, β = -.467, p = .021), and parental depression and anxiety predicted less of the variance (b = 1.01, SEb= .799, β = .238, p = .219).
This study shows that a child’s deficits in EF may explain some of the intergenerational transmission of psychopathology. These results suggest that intervention is possible and can help improve overall EF skills and break the chain of passing on psychopathology.

Authors

• Jenipher Servin Olivares, Eastern Michigan University
  Presenting Author

• Tiffany Nicol Ludkin, Eastern Michigan University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tiara Marie Runyon, Eastern Michigan University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sierra Powdhar, Eastern Michigan University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jamie Melissa Lawler, Eastern Michigan University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jessica Hruschak, University of Michigan
  Non-Presenting Author

• Katherine L Rosenblum, University of Michigan
  Non-Presenting Author

• Maria Muzik, University of Michigan
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kate Fitzgerald, University of Michigan
  Non-Presenting Author