Poster #64 - Children’s Perception of Mother’s Depression and Children’s Internalizing Symptoms: Child Self-Blame Appraisals as a Moderator

• In Event: 1-169 - Poster Session 04
  In Poster Session: PS 04 Section - Developmental Psychopathology

Integrative Statement

Maternal depression has been associated with a wide range of negative child behavioral and emotional outcomes. For example, a meta-analysis found an average effect size of r = 0.23 for the relation between maternal depression and children’s internalizing symptoms (Goodman, Rouse, et al. 2011). There was significant variability across the studies analyzed, however, which underscores the importance of examining which children are most vulnerable for internalizing symptoms in the context of maternal depression. The way in which children appraise their mother’s depressive symptoms—specifically, appraisals of self-blame and personal responsibility in making mothers feel better—has been proposed as a potential risk factor for child internalizing symptoms (Goodman, Tully, Connell, Hartman, & Huh, 2011). Indeed, the types of attributions children make in the context of negative life events are highlighted as a key mechanism in cognitive models of child internalizing symptoms (Mezulis et al., 2004). Although self-blame appraisals have been studied more extensively in the context of interparental conflict (e.g., Fear et al., 2009; Fosco & Lydon-Stanley, 2016), it is unknown the extent to which these same types of appraisals about maternal depression also increase the risk for child internalizing symptoms. In a recent study, Donohue and colleagues (2017) found that children who made misattributions of personal responsibility for their mothers’ negative emotions had lower prosocial skills, providing initial support for further studying children’s appraisals about their mother’s depressive symptoms. Thus, we tested children’s self-blame/personal responsibility appraisals as a moderator of the relation between children’s perceptions of their mother’s depressive symptom severity and mother-reported child internalizing symptoms. We hypothesized that higher levels of children’s self-blame/personal responsibility appraisals would exacerbate the relation between their perception of their mother’s depression severity and their own internalizing symptoms. Eighty-one parents and their adolescent child participated in a study about mental health attributions; the 74 mother-child pairs were used in the current study. Children were, on average, 13.7 years old (SD=2.46) and 52.7% were female. Children were 31% European American, 34.5% African American, 25.5% Latino/Hispanic, and 9% reported another race). Children completed the Children’s Perceptions of Others’ Depression Scale – Mother Version (Goodman, Tully, et al., 2011) and two subscales were created to reflect their perception of the severity and chronicity of their mother’s depression (12 items) and their appraisals of self-blame for their mother’s depressive symptoms and feelings of personal responsibility in helping their mothers cope with their symptoms (9 items). Mothers reported on their child’s internalizing symptoms on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman, 2001). A multiple regression tested the interaction between maternal depressive symptom severity and self-blame/personal responsibility appraisals as predictors of child internalizing symptoms, controlling for child age and sex (Table 1). As predicted, mothers’ depressive symptom severity was positively related to children’s internalizing symptoms, but only for children with higher levels of self-blame/personal responsibility appraisals (Figure 1). The findings highlight the importance of children’s appraisals of their mother’s depression as a vulnerability factor; considering children’s appraisals may, therefore, be a possible target for preventive interventions.

Authors

• Sharyl E Wee, Southern Methodist University
  Presenting Author

• Allie Yun, Southern Methodist University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Naomi Ekas, Texas Christian University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Chrystyna Kouros, Southern Methodist University
  Non-Presenting Author