Poster #95 - Family Socioeconomic Status and Child Depression: The Mediating Role of Parental Intrusiveness

• In Event: 2-055 - Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Section - Family Context & Processes

Integrative Statement

Even though substantial research has documented associations between family socioeconomic status (SES) and child internalizing problems (Altafim et al., 2018; Hastings et al., 2015), there remains insufficient longitudinal evidence to investigate mechanisms explaining this relation. The family stress model purports that financial hardships potentially strain parents’ physical and mental capacities to provide positive parenting (Conger et al., 2010; Conger & Elder, 1994). Intrusive parenting, characterized by a lack of respect or concern for the child’s autonomy through verbal and/or physical interruptions, has demonstrated linkages with child adjustment difficulties (Eisenberg et al., 2015; Morris et al., 2002) and may mediate the effect of family SES on child problems. Therefore, this study drew on longitudinal data in a large and diverse community sample to evaluate the hypothesized relation between family SES during the preschool period and child depressive symptoms at age 8 via observational measures of intrusive parenting at age 6.

Participants were 250 female caregivers and their children (50% female; 46% Latinx, 18% Black, 11.2% White, .4% Asian, and 24.4% multiracial) in an ongoing longitudinal study of child development. Family SES was evaluated at age 4 using the Hollingshead (1975) Four Factor Index of Social Status. At age 6, 215 dyads returned for follow-up and independent observers rated caregivers’ intrusive parenting on a 7-point scale across a series of laboratory teaching tasks Egeland, 1982; ICC = .782). Children reported on their depressive symptoms at ages 6 and 8 using the Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI; Kovacs, 1992) and the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC; Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2006), respectively. A regression analysis using Hayes’ (2013) Process routine tested the mediating relation from family SES to child depression via parental intrusiveness, controlling for child gender, race/ethnicity, and prior depressive symptomatology.

Results indicated that family SES predicted lower rates of parental intrusiveness, b = -.009, SE = .003, p = .002, and that parental intrusiveness predicted later child depressive symptoms, b = 1.195, SE = .526, p = .024, over and above prior symptoms, b = .431, SE = .082, p < .001. Moreover, the indirect path from family SES to later depressive symptoms in the child via an intervening assessment of intrusive parenting was significant; b = -.011, SE = .007, 95% CI = [-.029, -.002]. Approximately 15.6% of the variability in child depression was accounted for by family SES and the indirect path through intrusive parenting.

The results of this study are consistent with the family stress model wherein comprised parenting quality is posited as a central mechanism by which family economic pressure may contribute to child depressive symptoms. In addition to extreme parental behaviors, such as overtly abusive caregiving, subtle distortions in parenting practices, such as parental intrusiveness, may have long-lasting implications on child development. Further research, including analyses with this sample, will clarify whether heightened intrusion in the context of low SES reflects parental (di)stress and/or increased threats to child well-being in the community.

Authors

• Duyen T Trang, University of California, Riverside
  Presenting Author

• Jaqueline Dighero, University of California, Riverside
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tuppett M Yates, University of California, Riverside
  Non-Presenting Author