Social Support Mediates the Relation between Household Chaos and Parental Depression

• In Event: Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Topic - Family Context & Processes

Abstract

In a recent meta-analysis (Marsh, Dobson, & Maddison, 2020), household chaos was related to a number of negative child and family outcomes, including parental depression. Similarly, parental daily hassles are linked to multitude of negative outcomes including parental depression (Hall, et al., 1985). One mechanism for reducing the negative effects of these family stressors may be social support (Lee et al., 2009). In the current study, we hypothesized that family stressors (household chaos and daily hassles) would relate to increased primary caregiver depression, and that this relation would be exacerbated when the primary caregiver experienced limited social support.

The sample consisted of 145 families, each with two children aged 4-12 (50% female) and one caregiver (95% female), who participated in an ongoing, laboratory-based longitudinal study. At Time 1 (T1), primary caregivers reported their daily hassles (Crnic & Booth, 1991), household chaos (Matheny et al., 1995), family social support and their own depression (CES-Depression, Radloff, 1997). At Time 2 (T2; 2.5 years later), depression was re-assessed via primary caregiver self-report. Variables were centered prior to analyses and were all normally distributed with no outliers (3+ SDs).

Correlations among variables were examined prior to running a multilevel multiple regression analysis (Table 1). Caregiver depression between T1 and T2 was somewhat stable; r(118)=.51, p<.001. A covariate model, testing the influence of child sex and age, socioeconomic status (SES; a mean composite of Z-scores of income and caregiver education), caregiver age and T1 depression accounted for 27.1% of caregivers’ T2 depression. The only covariate other than T1 depression to attain statistical significance was the younger child’s age. Caregivers reported higher depression when the second child was younger (p = .03). The full prediction model accounted for 30.6% of caregivers’ T2 depression. Social support significantly moderated the effect of household chaos on T2 depression; β = -0.45, SE = 0.20, p = .02. (see Figure 1).

For families with lower levels of household chaos, increased social support related to significantly lower levels of self-reported depression in caregivers two and a half years later. In more chaotic homes, social support did not appear to buffer the effects of the chaos on the caregiver’s depression. This finding fits within a cumulative stress model in which high levels of household chaos are indicative of multiple stressors, the effects of which can not be easily ameliorated even with higher levels of social support.

Authors

• T. Caitlin Vasquez-O'Brien, Eastern Connecticut State University
  Presenting Author

• Elizabeth Rellinger Zettler, Illinois College
  Non-Presenting Author

• Madison Klanke, Illinois College
  Non-Presenting Author

• Bryton Wilson, Illinois College
  Non-Presenting Author