An Investigation of Rumination as a Moderator of the Parenting-Depression Relationship

• In Event: Poster Session 07
  In Poster Session: PS 07 Topic - Developmental Psychopathology

Abstract

Negative parenting and cognitive vulnerabilities independently contribute to poor psychopathological outcomes for children; however, few longitudinal studies examine how individual risk factors interact with parenting to predict depression (Compas et al., 1993; King et al., 2016). The present study extended past research, which demonstrates that rumination and authoritarian parenting serve as independent predictors of depression in youth, by prospectively testing whether rumination exacerbates depressive symptoms among youth with authoritarian parents over 3 years. Participants were 661 youth ages 7-16 (M=12.03, SD=2.39, 56.6% female) and a caregiver. Authoritarian parenting was coded by trained observers in the context of a 5-minute conflict-resolution discussion at the baseline assessment (Melnick & Hinshaw, 2000; NICHD Early Child Care Research Network 1999). Youth depressive symptoms were assessed with the child-report of the Children’s Depression Inventory at baseline and 36 months (CDI; Kovacs, 1992). Youth rumination was assessed at 18 months using the child-report of the Ruminative Response subscale of the Children’s Responses Style Questionnaire (CRumSQ; Abela et al., 2002). Multiple regression analyses revealed that there was no significant two-way interaction between authoritarian parenting and rumination, indicating that rumination does not influence the strength of the relationship between authoritarian parenting and rumination (β=.041, p=.291). Consistent with existing research, rumination was an independent predictor of depression (β=0.389, p<.001). In contrast, authoritarian parenting at baseline had no significant influence on adolescent depression (β=0.042, p=.280). Findings suggest that authoritarian parenting may not have as a negative impact on youth as it has been past conceptualized. Additionally, rumination itself may be such a strong predictor of youth depression that regardless of the parenting environment, high ruminators may be at particular risk of developing depression.

Authors

• Talia Shannon Farrell-Rosen, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  Presenting Author

• Erin Long, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jami Young, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
  Non-Presenting Author

• Benjamin Hankin, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  Non-Presenting Author