Poster #59 - Maternal Depression and Maternal Parenting: A Multi-Group Analysis of Native-Born and Foreign-Born Mothers

• In Event: Poster Session 02

Abstract

Parent-child interactions are one of the most critical factors for shaping children’s development (Bornstein, 2002), but mothers who experience depressive symptoms are at higher risk of maladaptive parenting (De Wolff & van Ijzendoorn, 1997). Yet, the extent to which depressive symptoms are linked with parenting behaviors may vary based on parental nativity (Foss et al., 2004). As of 2008, nearly one in four American children had an immigrant parent and immigrant parents tend to have more authoritative beliefs compared to U.S. born parents (Ochocka & Janzen, 2008). Therefore, this study examines whether the association between maternal depression and parenting behaviors via parenting attitudes differed across native- and foreign-born mothers.

Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), a nationally representative and longitudinal sample of children born in the United States in 2001, the sample included approximately 8,000 mother-child dyads who were observed at 24 months. Parenting behavior at 24 months was based on the Two Bags Task, an observed parent-child problem-solving task, and was measured by the mean score of: sensitivity, cognitive stimulation, positive regard, and reverse coding of intrusiveness, negative regard, and detachment. Maternal depressive symptoms were measured at 9-months by a 12-item version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (Radloff, 1977). Parenting attitudes were measured at 9-months using the mean score of five items from The Authoritarian Family Ideology (Ernhart & Loevinger, 1969) with higher scores indicating more authoritative parenting compared to authoritarian parenting. Baseline covariates included: child age, child sex, maternal age, marital status, socioeconomic status, household size, urbanicity, and region. Finally, mothers were grouped as native- or foreign-born.

Analyses were conducted in Mplus and using FIML for missing data. First, parenting behaviors were regressed on maternal depression via parental attitudes using a mediation model (see Figure 1). Results demonstrated no direct effects between maternal depression and parenting behaviors. However, there was a significant negative association between maternal depression and parental attitudes. In multigroup models, a Satorra-Bentler chi-square difference test demonstrated that the constrained model fit the data worse than an unconstrained model. Further testing indicated that the pathways from depression to parenting style (χ2[1, N ≈ 8000] = 4.99, p= .03) and parenting style to parenting behavior (χ2[1, N ≈ 8000] = 5.62, p= .02) were significantly different between native- and foreign-born mothers. The association between depression and parenting style was significant for native mothers (β = -.07, p<.01), but not for foreign mothers (β = .010, p = .69). However, the association between parenting style and parenting behavior was not significant for native mothers (β = .02, p = .112), but was marginally significant for foreign mothers (β = -.04, p<.10).

Our results suggest that there appears to be a protective component among foreign-born mothers that weakens the negative effect of maternal depression on parenting attitudes and behaviors. Also, foreign mothers’ authoritarian beliefs lead to more advantageous parenting behaviors. Our findings illustrate that prevention and intervention efforts need to consider immigration status and draw on a strengths-based approach to promote positive parent-child interactions.

Authors

• Agona Lutolli, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
  Presenting Author

• Kierra Marie Pettit Sattler, University of North Carolina at Greensboro