ArticleDepression and anxiety2018
Parenting mediates the impact of maternal depression on child internalizing symptoms.
Article in Depression and anxiety, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 95 citations in OpenAlex.
- Parenting as a Mediator of Associations between Depression in Mothers and Children's Functioning: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Clinical child and family psychology review · 2020Pooled it
- Impacts of a tiered intervention on child internalizing and externalizing behavior in the context of maternal depression.Development and psychopathology · 2025Trial
- Vulnerability to bullying victimization: an investigation of genetic and environmental risk factors in a twin-family study.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2026Article
- Developmental Pathways Linking Maternal Depressive Symptoms with Parenting Quality and Preschool Children's Screen Time: The Role of Children's Behavioural Problems.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Perceived Antisemitism and Mental Health in Jewish Mothers and Their Children.Research on child and adolescent psychopathology · 2026Article
- Bidirectional Associations Between Primary Caregivers' and Adolescents' Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms: An Intergenerational Actor-Partner Interdependence Model Analysis.Depression and anxiety · 2026Article
- Infants' empathic concern responses moderate the association between maternal and child depressive symptoms.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Longitudinal Associations from Maternal and Paternal Internalizing Symptoms to Preschooler's Problem Behavior and Social Competence in China: The Mediating Role of Executive Function.Child psychiatry and human development · 2025Article
- The Impact of Parental Mental Health Diagnoses, Trauma, and Coping Mechanisms on Their Children's Well-Being.Child psychiatry and human development · 2025Article
- Paternal Depression at Kindergarten Entry and Teacher-Reported Behavior at Age 9 Years.American journal of preventive medicine · 2025Article
- Longitudinal pathways between maternal depression, parenting behaviors, and early childhood development: a mediation analysis.International journal of behavioral development · 2025Article
- Effects of Maternal Depression on Adolescent Offspring Depression and Anxiety: Mediating Role of Emotional Trauma in a Community-Based Study.Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry · 2025Article
- Maternal depressive symptoms trajectories and harsh parenting: the mediating role of maternal quality of life in the 2004 Pelotas Birth Cohort.Revista brasileira de psiquiatria (Sao Paulo, Brazil : 1999) · 2025Article
- Prioritizing caregiver mental health to promote child health.Pediatric research · 2024Article
- Early Family Conflict and Behavioral Outcomes in Children from Low-Income Families: The Indirect Effects of Parental Depression and Parenting Practices.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Transactional models of depression via caregiver-child interactions: Evaluating conflict resolution as a source of resilience in adversity-exposed families.Children and youth services review · 2024Article
- Social, Demographic, and Psychological Factors Associated with Middle-Aged Mother's Vocabulary: Findings from the Millennium Cohort Study.Journal of Intelligence · 2024Article
- Contextual factors of child behavioral health across developmental stages.Development and psychopathology · 2024Article
- Influence of early childhood parental hostility and socioeconomic stress on children's internalizing symptom trajectories from childhood to adolescence.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- Behavior Problems in Low-Income Young Children Screened in Pediatric Primary Care.JAMA pediatrics · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundTo examine the potential mediating role of parenting behaviors in the longitudinal, bidirectional relationships between maternal depression and child internalizing symptoms (i.e. depression and anxiety).
methodsWe analyzed data from 4,581 mother-child dyads from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, assessed when the child was 3, 5, and 9 years old. Data included maternal depression diagnosis, child internalizing symptoms, and parenting behaviors (i.e. psychological aggression, nonviolent discipline, and physical assault). Data were analyzed using cross-lagged panel models.
resultsResults indicated bidirectional relationships between maternal depression and child internalizing symptoms over childhood. Mediation analyses suggested that maternal depression led to subsequent increased psychological aggression toward their child, which in turn led to increased child internalizing symptoms. Nonviolent discipline and physical assault did not mediate this relationship. However, greater use of nonviolent discipline at age 5 among all parents predicted higher child internalizing symptoms at age 9. No parenting behaviors were both predicted by earlier child internalizing symptoms and predictive of subsequent maternal depression.
conclusionsOur results suggest a bidirectional relationship between child and maternal internalizing psychopathology that is partially explained by depressed mothers' greater use of psychological aggression toward their children. It is important to note that the size of these effects were small, suggesting that the relationship between parent and child psychopathology is likely additionally explained by factors not assessed in the current study. Nonetheless, these results have implications for prevention and intervention strategies targeting child anxiety and depression.
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