Poster #64 - Reciprocal Effects of Parental Warmth and Child Depression, Moderated by Sex and Sibling Order

• In Event: Poster Session 15

Abstract

Parenting style (often operationalized as warmth and control) has been linked to childhood psychopathology and internalizing problems (Ryan et al., 2017; Zheng & McMahon, 2021). Rothenberg and colleagues (2020) found that parenting style (particularly parental warmth) consistently predicted internalizing problems in middle childhood cross-culturally. Less is known about how parenting style influences internalizing problems in early childhood, or within the family context. We hypothesized that parenting style would predict symptoms of depression in children concurrently and longitudinally, with greater effects on girls and older siblings. We also hypothesized that transactional associations would appear between parenting style and symptoms of depression in children over time.
We tested our hypotheses using data from an ongoing longitudinal study of 145 family triads (one parent, two siblings). The siblings (49.2% female) were both between the ages of 4-12 at Time 1 (T1). Time 2 (T2) measurement occurred 2.5 years later. The parents were predominantly female (95%) and the average family was middle class (Mincome=60,000-80-000) and white (85%). Child symptoms of depression were measured using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children (Weissman et al., 1980) at T1 and using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman, 1997) at T2. Parental warmth was assessed at T1 on the Child Rearing Practices Report (Block, 1965), and warmth, rejection, and control were measured at T2 on the Parental Acceptance and Rejection Questionnaire (Buri, 1991).
Using multilevel regression models to control for parent depression, parent and child age, and socioeconomic status, we found that at T1, the effect of parental warmth on child depression was moderated by gender (B = -0.437, SE = 0.202, p = .031). Parental warmth related to significantly fewer symptoms of depression only in boys [t(111) = -2.60, p = .011]. At T2, parental rejection significantly related to child depression (B=0.315, SE = 0.110, p = .005). Parental warmth was related to significantly fewer symptoms of depression, especially in younger siblings. The relations between parenting style and child symptoms of depression were bidirectional. Children who reported higher levels of depression at T1 received significantly less warmth (B = -0.116, SE = 0.035, p = .001) and marginally more rejection (B = 0.090, SE = 0.051, p = .077) at T2. The effect of rejection was moderated by child gender, with boys who were more depressed at T1 receiving significantly more rejection at T2 (B = 0.218, SE = 0.069, p = .002).
Although surprising, our finding that boys are more vulnerable to parenting style make sense in light of Herman and McHale’s 1993 paper, which found that boys were more likely to use immature coping strategies, such as forgetting, to deal with parental negativity and that these strategies were more likely to be associated with depression. Fitting within a reciprocal model of parenting, these immature coping strategies might doubly harm these boys as their depression might make them even more vulnerable later on to decreased warmth and increased parental rejection. Results will be further examined using additional observed measures of parenting style.

Authors

• Gianna Catherine DeSante, Eastern Connecticut State University
  Presenting Author

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

• Elizabeth Rellinger Zettler, Illinois College