3-060 - Maternal psychopathology and child development: the role of parenting practices

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Maternal psychopathology is a major public health concern, as it places children at risk for poor behavioural, emotional, and cognitive outcomes. Nearly 10% of women of childbearing age in high-income countries will meet diagnostic criteria for major depression, putting millions of children at risk for poor developmental outcomes. Despite the significant body of research investigating the negative consequences of maternal psychopathology on child development, fewer studies have tested the underlying mechanisms of this association. A growing body of literature has pointed to parenting as one potential mechanism. As such, the studies presented in this symposium investigate the role of parenting practices in the associations between maternal psychopathology and child development. The first study investigates the associations between maternal stress and toddlers’ language development, social competence, and behaviour problems and whether parenting quality mediates these associations in the Early Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey. The second study uses a Canadian population-based twin cohort to test the mediating role of parenting practices in the association between maternal depressive symptoms and children’s internalizing symptoms. Finally, the third study is a systematic review of evidence on the role of parenting as a mediator of the association between maternal depression and children’s social, cognitive, emotional, and behavioural development. These studies shed light on parenting as a potential mechanism through which maternal psychopathology influences child outcomes. In doing so, they contribute to a burgeoning evidence-base which can be used to develop parenting interventions to foster healthy child development.

Sub Unit

• Family Context & Processes

Chair

• Sherryl Goodman, Emory University

Individual Presentations

• The Influence of Stress and Social Support on Parenting Behavior: Mediational Pathways to Child Development - Presenting Author: Catherine Kuhns, University of Maryland; Non-Presenting Author: Natasha Cabrera, University of Maryland

• Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Child Internalizing Symptoms: the Role of Parenting in a Genetically-informed Sample - Presenting Author: Marilyn Ahun, University of Montreal; Non-Presenting Author: Ginette Dionne, Laval University; Non-Presenting Author: Mara Brendgen, University of Quebec at Montreal; Non-Presenting Author: Sylvana Côté, University of Montreal

• Parenting as a Mediator of Associations Between Depression in Mothers and Children’s Functioning - Presenting Author: Sherryl Goodman, Emory University; Non-Presenting Author: Hannah F.M. Simon, Emory University; Non-Presenting Author: Christine Youngwon Kim, Emory University