Poster #18 - The Protective Role of Childcare Attendance for Children Exposed to Maternal Depression in Early Childhood

• In Event: Poster Session 07

Abstract

Background
Peer victimization is suggested as an important mediator in the transmission of depression symptoms between a mother and a child. However, it is not clear which type of peer victimization (i.e., overt or relational) might be conducive to higher levels of child depressive symptoms. Also, recent studies have shown that the association between maternal and child depressive symptoms can be lowered by early childcare attendance. However, the potential moderating role of childcare attendance on the mediational pathway from maternal depression to child depression via overt/relational peer victimization has yet to be investigated. The aims of this study were (a) to determine whether relational or overt victimization experiences (or both) mediated the association between exposure to maternal depressive symptoms in early childhood and later children’s depressive symptoms, and (b) to examine if childcare attendance moderates this mediation.
Methods
Data come from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Children And Parents (ALSPAC) (N=5,526). We created propensity scores to weigh our analysis for population representativeness and to control for social selection into childcare services. Exposure to maternal depressive symptoms during early childhood was assessed repeatedly when the child was two, eight, 21 and 36 months. Childcare attendance was assessed on four occasions between eight months and three years of age. Three trajectories of childcare attendance were estimated (i.e., no or low attendance, part-time and full-time childcare attendance). Children’s overt and relational victimization experiences and depressive symptoms were all self-reported at eight and 10 years of age. We used weighted structural equation modeling to test whether relational or overt victimization experiences mediated the relationship between exposure to maternal depressive symptoms in early childhood and children’s depressive symptoms in late childhood. We also tested whether childcare attendance moderated these mediated models.
Results
We found that being exposed to maternal depression in early childhood was associated with higher levels of overt and relational victimization which, in turn, associated with higher levels of children’s depressive symptoms (B indirect effect overt victimization = 0.005, p <0.01; B indirect effect relational victimization = 0.003, p =0.04). Childcare attendance did not moderate these indirect associations. However, childcare attendance moderated the direct association between maternal and children’s depressive symptoms. For children who attended full-time childcare, being exposed to higher levels of maternal depressive symptoms was no longer associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms in late childhood.
Conclusions
While peer victimization can help explain the transmission of depression from mothers to children, early childcare attendance does not remediate this risk. However, early full-time childcare attendance does reduce the direct association between maternal and child depression symptoms. Future research should investigate potential mechanisms that explain this protective effect of childcare attendance. In particular, children exposed to maternal depression who also attended childcare services might exhibit lower levels of social withdrawal which in turn might lower their risk of depression in late childhood.

Authors

• Marie-Pier Larose, University of Turku
  Presenting Author

• Edward D Barker, King’s College London

• Isabelle Ouellet-Morin, Université de Montréal

• Christina Salmivalli, University of Turku

• Sylvana M Côté, Université de Montréal (UdeM)