Poster #26 - Maternal and Child Depressive Symptoms: A Longitudinal Examination of Family-related Indirect Pathways during COVID-19

• In Event: Poster Session 18

Abstract

The link between maternal depressive symptoms and child depressive symptoms is well established (e.g., Manczak et al., 2016; Kuckertz et al., 2018). Understanding the mechanisms underlying this association has been of great interest to the field. For example, research has found that negative parenting partially explains this link (e.g., Lovejoy et al., 2000; Ojo et al., 2021). Family-level constructs (e.g., family routines and household chaos) have also been linked to parental depressive symptoms (e.g., Madigan et al., 2017; Manczak et al., 2016) as well as to child outcomes (e.g., Manczak et al., 2017; Ojo et al., 2021). Thus, there may be multiple parenting and family factors that explain the associations found between maternal and child depressive symptoms. Understanding these pathways during a context of high stress created by the COVID-19 pandemic may be particularly informative. In this study, we considered five such constructs: parental laxness, overreactivity, and hostility as well as family routines and chaos. It was hypothesized that there would be indirect pathways between maternal depressive symptoms and child depressive symptoms one year later through each of these five parenting and family constructs, considered simultaneously.

Data were collected from 308 mothers of school-aged children (K-6th grade; Mage = 20.59, SDage = 7.01; 79.6% White; 8.1% Black; 6.8% Asian; 5.5% other) at three time points during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic: April 2020, October 2020, and March 2021. Maternal depressive symptoms were assessed by the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995) at Time 1. At Time 2 (T2), parental overreactivity, laxness, and hostility were assessed using the Parenting Scale (Porter & O’Leary, 1980) and household chaos and family routines were assessed using the Confusion, Hubbub, and Order Scale (CHAOS; Matheny et al., 1995) and the Family Routine Inventory (FRI; Jensen et al., 1983), respectively. Finally, child depressive symptoms were assessed through the Depression subscale of the Revised Children’s Anxiety and Depression Scale-Parent Report (RCADS-25-P; Ebustini et al., 2017) at both Time 1 (T1) and 3 (T3).

Descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations of all primary variables are presented in Table 1. A path model with indirect pathways from T1 maternal depressive symptoms to T3 child depressive symptoms through T2 laxness, overreactivity, hostility, chaos, and family routines was tested using the lavaan package within Rstudio (Rosseel, 2012; Rstudio Team, 2015). Full information maximum likelihood estimation was used to account for missing data. As shown in Figure 1, only the indirect pathway through family chaos was found to be significant, although family routines was also positively associated with maternal depressive symptoms. Further, the direct link between maternal and child depressive symptoms remained significant in the model. It should be noted that when T1 child depressive symptoms was included in the model, no indirect pathways were significant. These findings suggest that family chaos was an important mechanism explaining the link between maternal and child depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Authors

• Karamveer Kaur, Northern Illinois University
  Presenting Author

• Kaitlyn Larkin, Northeastern Illinois University

• Laura D Pittman, Northern Illinois University

• Elizabeth C. Shelleby, Northern Illinois University

• David J Bridgett, Northern Illinois University