SynthesisClinical child and family psychology review2020
Parenting as a Mediator of Associations between Depression in Mothers and Children's Functioning: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Synthesis in Clinical child and family psychology review, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 109 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
109 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 207 citations in OpenAlex.
- Beyond Perceptions: Meta-Analyses on Observed Parent-Child Interaction Behaviors and Childhood and Adolescent Depression.Clinical child and family psychology review · 2026Pooled it
- Socioeconomic factors and sex effects of postpartum maternal depression on offspring internalizing symptoms: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Trauma-sensitive school concepts for students with a refugee background: a review of international studies.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Pooled it
- Characteristics of maternal depression and children's functioning: A meta-analytic review.Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43) · 2022Pooled it
- Effect of Parenting Interventions on Perinatal Depression and Implications for Infant Developmental Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Clinical child and family psychology review · 2022Pooled it
- Understanding modifiable caregiver factors contributing to child development among young children in rural Malawi.Maternal & child nutrition · 2024Trial
- Anxiety Symptom Trajectories Predict Depression Symptom Trajectories up to Four Years After CBT for Youth Anxiety Disorders.Research on child and adolescent psychopathology · 2024Trial
- A Dynamic Systems Analysis of Dyadic Flexibility and Shared Affect in Preschoolers with and Without Major Depressive Disorder.Research on child and adolescent psychopathology · 2023Trial
- A positive parenting program to enhance positive affect in children of previously depressed mothers.Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43) · 2022Trial
- Randomized trial of promoting first relationships for new mothers who received community mental health services in pregnancy.Developmental psychology · 2021Trial
- Minding the Gatekeepers: Referral and Recruitment of Postpartum Mothers with Depression into a Randomized Controlled Trial of a Mobile Internet Parenting Intervention to Improve Mood and Optimize Infant Social Communication Outcomes.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Trial
- Maternal postnatal depression and sensitive parenting: Considering developmental timing with a causally informative approach.Developmental psychology · 2026Article
- Maternal Depressive Symptoms, Positive Family Expressions, and Child Peer Competence Across the Elementary School Years.Family process · 2026Article
- Parenting knowledge moderates the association between parent and child internalizing symptoms.Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43) · 2026Article
- Testing a Developmental Cascade Model from Prenatal Maternal Emotion Dysregulation to Toddler Behavior Dysregulation Through Postnatal Parenting Stress and Infant Physiology.Journal of child and adolescent psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Perinatal predictors of parenting stress trajectories during the first 3 years of parenthood: A Maternal and Child Health Handbook cohort study.JCPP advances · 2026Article
- Cross-cultural evidence for positive control and mind-mindedness as buffers for parental distress.Communications psychology · 2026Article
- Parent-child communication and third generation's difficulties: Roles of parental depression and self-efficacy.Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43) · 2026Article
- The Intimate Partner Violence Impact on Maternal Parenting: The Mediational Role of Depressive Symptoms.Journal of interpersonal violence · 2026Article
- Perinatal trajectories of help-seeking stigma and correlates: a prospective cohort study.BMC public health · 2026Article
49 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This paper responds to the need to understand mechanisms in the pathways of risk from depression in mothers to their children's functioning. We systematically reviewed evidence in support of one often-proposed mediational model: that problematic parenting at least partially explains associations between mothers' depression and children's adverse functioning. We further aimed to understand the conceptual and method-based moderators. Eligible studies had to be published in English in a peer-reviewed journal, include data on mothers' depression and parenting and child functioning, and have a study design whereby measurement of depression in mothers preceded the measurement of parenting, which preceded the measurement of child outcome. Overall, across the 40 papers (37 "studies") that met our inclusion criteria, we found a significant, albeit small effect (r = .016), for the mediational model as a whole. This effect size was robust to context (poverty and ethnicity), children's characteristics of age and gender, and parenting quality (positive or negative). The model was significant for multiple domains of child functioning, although effect sizes varied across domains. We also found support, with small effect sizes, for all three pathways in the mediational model and some support for moderation of those pathways. Overall, the findings provide empirical support for parenting (both positive and negative) as a mediator of associations between mothers' depression and a broad range of child functioning and suggest that interventions should target samples that represent the population in terms of poverty and ethnicity and children's gender, with priority going to interventions targeting the youngest children.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.