Poster #139 - Maternal Depression in Early Childhood and Child Externalizing Outcomes: the Moderating Role of Attachment

• In Event: 1-115 - Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Section - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Integrative Statement

Attachment theory is a guiding framework through which many clinicians conceptualize the parent-child relationship and its importance to child adjustment. A number of longitudinal studies found significant associations between attachment quality in early childhood and later externalizing behaviors (see Madigan et al., 2016). In contrast, several studies found small effects over time (Groh et al., 2012), and that the magnitude of effects may vary depending on environmental factors (Fearon et al., 2010). These findings suggest that early attachment insecurity may not directly lead to externalizing problems, but instead act as a lasting source of vulnerability by increasing the likelihood for maladjustment when children are later exposed to certain risk factors. Maternal depression is one of the most consistently documented risk factors for childhood externalizing problems (for meta-analysis, see Goodman et al., 2011), and thus may be important in understanding the relation between attachment quality and externalizing behaviors.
The present study expands the literature on attachment status as a moderator by considering the relation between attachment status at age 3 measured by the Attachment Q-Sort, exposure to subsequent maternal depression between age 3 and 9 as measured by the CIDI at two time points, and age 9 externalizing outcomes for children as reported by mother, child, and teacher in a sample of 1,923 diverse families. MANCOVA analyses were used with attachment quality (secure or insecure) and exposure to maternal depression (yes/no) as independent variables and externalizing measures as dependent variables. Of the covariates in the model, African American status, Latina status, family poverty, child’s gender, and child’s age 3 externalizing score were significant at p < 0.05. There was a significant main effect of maternal depression (F(1, 1796) = 17.08, p < 0.001) and attachment status (F(1, 1796) = 5.08, p < 0.01), and a significant interaction between attachment and maternal depression on externalizing behavior, F(1, 1796) = 9.21, p < 0.001. In follow-up univariate analyses, the interaction was significant for mother, teacher, and child reports of externalizing behavior. As shown in Table 1 and Figure 1, maternal depression was associated with increased externalizing only for children who had an insecure attachment history, and insecure children not exposed to subsequent maternal depression did not look any different from their securely attached peers.
As with other studies, we found little indication that early attachment directly predicts later child maladjustment; rather, findings are consistent with the concept of differential vulnerability. Specifically, when exposed to maternal depression, children with an insecure attachment history may be vulnerable for externalizing problems. Of note, this pattern of findings emerged while controlling for demographic factors, age 3 externalizing, and age 3 maternal depression, and was evident in mother, child, and teacher reports of externalizing. There are multiple ways attachment status could moderate the impact of maternal depression on children’s externalizing behaviors, which will be discussed. Overall, results are consistent with the view that the effect of attachment insecurity on developmental psychopathology is likely time-limited, except in cases where the child is exposed to subsequent risk factors.

Authors

• Christina Carlone, University of Connecticut
  Presenting Author

• Stephanie Milan, University of Connecticut
  Non-Presenting Author