Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Child Internalizing Symptoms: the Role of Parenting in a Genetically-informed Sample

• In Event: 3-060 - Maternal psychopathology and child development: the role of parenting practices

Integrative Statement

Introduction – Postnatal maternal depressive symptoms (MDS) have been identified as a risk factor for poor parenting practices and negative outcomes in the offspring (Lovejoy et al 2000, Goodman et al 2011, Liu et al 2017). Twin and adoption studies enable us to better understand the underlying mechanisms of these associations by examined the extent to which they are accounted for by genetic (i.e. transmission of genes which increase the risk of developing internalizing symptoms) or environmental (i.e. non-genetic factors associated with both maternal and child behaviors) factors. Determining the role of environmental factors is quite challenging because the transmission of genes may confound their effects (Natsuaki et al., 2014). The child of a depressed mother may exhibit internalizing symptoms either because he/she inherited the genes for this psychopathology or because he/she is growing up in a family environment that increases his/her risk of experiencing internalizing symptoms. However, since a mother’s genes are associated with the type of rearing environment she provides for her child, the effect of this environment on the child’s outcomes are confounded by the mother’s – and by extension her child’s – genetic factors. This is known as passive gene-environment correlation (Plomin, DeFries, & Loehlin, 1977). The objectives of this study were to examine the mediating role of child-specific parenting practices in the association between MDS and children’s internalizing symptoms. We also tested the role of passive gene-environment correlations in the association between parenting and child outcomes.
Hypotheses – We hypothesized that child-specific parenting practices will partially mediate the association between MDS and child outcomes and that genetic factors would not confound these associations.
Study Population – The Quebec Newborn Twin Study is an ongoing prospective birth cohort of twins born between 1995 and 1998 in Canada. The baseline sample included n=662 families who were assessed when twins were 6 months old. The average response rate over more than a decade of data collection was 70.8% (range 59-100%). The study sample included n=580 families with data for the exposure and outcome variables and at least one mediator variable.
Methods – MDS were self-reported by mothers at 6 months and 1½ years using a short-version of the CES-D. Child-specific parenting practices were reported at 1½ and 2½ years using the Parental Cognitions and Conduct toward the Infant Scale, a validated measure of five parenting dimensions (self-efficacy, parental impact, reactive hostility, affection, overprotection). Children’s internalizing symptoms were assessed at 5 and 6 years by mothers and teachers, respectively, using the Preschool Behaviour Questionnaire. Maternal education, family status, annual household income, and family dysfunction at baseline were included as confounders in mediation models. Structural equation modelling was used to test mediation and bivariate correlation factor models were used to test our gene-environment hypotheses.
Results – Preliminary results suggest that self-efficacy is the only parenting dimension that mediates the association between MDS and children’s internalizing symptoms. Environmental factors were the most significant sources of variance for both parenting self-efficacy and children’s internalizing symptoms. Tests of gene-environment correlations are forthcoming.

Authors

• Marilyn Ahun, University of Montreal
  Presenting Author

• Ginette Dionne, Laval University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Mara Brendgen, University of Quebec at Montreal
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sylvana Côté, University of Montreal
  Non-Presenting Author