Emotional Problems in Children of Mothers who had Depression: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Depression is a highly prevalent mental disorder. Maternal depression can adversely impact perinatal outcomes and child development, and can increase mental disorders for children and adolescents. Understanding the impact could lead to opportunities for early intervention and prevention. Methods: We selected 29 mothers attending a tertiary care setting for mental health, who had remitted following a depressive episode, and 35 control mothers. They rated their children’s behavior on the strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ) and temperament measurement schedule (TMS). Using a cross-sectional design, we compared the scores on behavior and temperamental characteristics between the two groups. We also studied if the severity of depression correlated with increased behavioral difficulties and evaluated if there were any differences based on gender or age. Results: Our results suggest no significant difference in behavior and temperament between the two groups. There was a trend for the children of mothers who had depression to have poor emotionality, higher rhythmicity on TMS, and higher peer relatedness based on SDQ scores. There was no correlation between the severity of depression in the mother and the severity of behavior problems. Conclusion: The lack of significant differences between the two groups could be related to less severe forms of depression, the remission of depression in the mother, the presence of other supportive family members, or elevated problems in the control arm. Further research in this area with a longitudinal design, including mothers with ongoing symptoms and longer-term follow-up, studying the bidirectional influence, is warranted.

The relationship between parental depression and child internalizing and externalizing problems: The roles of parenting stress and child maltreatment

“…Moreover, Marçal ( 14 ) found that parental depression positively predicted child internalizing and externalizing problems based on a longitudinal study with Western samples. Parents with depression may have high levels of marital conflicts ( 15 ) and hostile parenting methods ( 16 ), contributing to high levels of child internalizing and externalizing problems ( 17 ). Additionally, according to the model of relationships between depressed mothers and child development discussed by Goodman and Gotlib ( 10 ), depressed parents may cause impairments in their child's later development.…”

Screening Children in India: Translation and Psychometric Evaluation of the Parents’ Evaluation of Developmental Status and the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire

“…The study concluded that the measures are unsuitable for developmental screening due to their sub-optimal diagnostic accuracy. In addition, for the past two years, several studies have used the SDQ on children in India but have not investigated the psychometric properties of the measure [23][24][25][26][27][28]. However, it appears that the PEDS and SDQ have yet to be used together to screen children for developmental delay and SEL in India.…”

Caregiver or care receiver: Adolescents' experience of caregiving to a parent with severe mental illness: A qualitative study

“…Adverse emotions, such as worries, fear, guilt, shame, and embarrassment (Källquist & Salzmann‐Erikson, 2019; Reedtz et al, 2019) and social isolation and exclusion are common among these children (Yamamoto & Keogh, 2018). They are also at increased risk of behavioural and developmental disorders (Gladstone et al, 2011), educational underachievement (Källquist & Salzmann‐Erikson, 2019; Ng‐Knight et al, 2018) and physical and psychosocial health problems in their future life (Kallapiran & Jayanthini, 2021; Källquist & Salzmann‐Erikson, 2019; Radicke et al, 2021). Above all, caregiving to a mentally ill family member can be very challenging, leading to burnout and mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression in the caregivers (Zauszniewski & Bekhet, 2014).…”