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Maternal depressive symptoms in infancy: Unique contribution to children's depressive symptoms in childhood and adolescence?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2009

Jean-François Bureau ,
M. Ann Easterbrooks  and
Karlen Lyons-Ruth
Jean-François Bureau*
Affiliation:
Harvard Medical School
M. Ann Easterbrooks
Affiliation:
Tufts University
Karlen Lyons-Ruth
Affiliation:
Harvard Medical School
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Jean-François Bureau, University of Ottawa, School of Psychology, 145 Jean-Jacques-Lussier, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada; E-mail: jbureau@uottawa.ca.
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Abstract

This prospective 20-year study assessed associations between maternal depressive symptoms in infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and child and adolescent depressive symptoms in a sample of families at high psychosocial risk. Maternal symptomatology was assessed with the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) when children were infants (12 months), school-aged (age 8), and adolescents (age 19). Children's depressive symptoms were measured at age 8 (Dimensions of Depression Profile for Children and Adolescents) and age 19 (CES-D). Maternal depressive symptoms during infancy contributed to the prediction of child depressive symptoms at age 8, after controlling for concurrent maternal depressive symptoms, clinical risk in infancy, and gender. Clinical risk in infancy marginally contributed to the prediction model. Disorganization of attachment in infancy and maternal hostility were independent predictors of depressive symptoms at age 8 and did not mediate the relation between maternal and child depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms in adolescence were predicted by gender, children's depressive symptoms at age 8, maternal depressive symptoms in adolescence, and maternal depressive symptoms in infancy. There was no moderating effect of gender. Adding to previous evidence on the importance of early maternal depression, maternal depressive symptoms during infancy were related to the development of depressive symptoms in childhood and adolescence even when other variables of potential relevance were controlled.

Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , May 2009 , pp. 519 - 537
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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