Poverty Duration, Maternal Psychological Resources, and Adolescent Socioemotional Outcomes

Abstract

This study seeks to assess the impact of maternal psychological well-being on the depression and anxiety levels and social withdrawal in a sample of young African American and Caucasian adolescents between the ages of 10 and 14 ( N = 854) using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 child sample. Analyses using structural equation modeling found (a) that the duration of time mothers spend in poverty strongly predicts maternal mastery and depressive symptoms and (b) that the effects of poverty duration on adolescent outcomes are mediated primarily by maternal depression and sense of mastery even after controlling for parenting behavior and other familial background characteristics.

Analysis of Studies on Social Support and Children of Depressed Mothers: A Systematic Review

“…The sample size varied from 40 to 7,429 dyads with a median of 2,945 dyads. Most studies (23; 85.18%) were performed using community samples, and the samples used in five studies (18.51%) were considered high risk because they were mainly composed of low-income families (AllenMeares, Blazevski, Bybee, & Oyserman, 2010;Criss, Shaw, Moilanen, Hitchings, & Ingoldsby, 2009;Fatori, Bordin, Curto, & de Paula, 2013;Goosby, 2007;Mickelson & Demmings, 2009). Most of the participants in the studies were White Caucasian, and the studies were conducted in the following countries: USA (16), UK (3), Brazil (3), India (2), Canada (2), Norway (1) and Finland (1).…”

“…Overall, however, the analyzed studies found that fewer contextual risk factors predicted fewer behavioral problems and depressive symptoms in children (Ashman et al, 2008;Barker & Maughan, 2009;Hart et al, 2008;Karevold et al, 2009;Lau et al, 2007;Lengua et al, 2008); more parental resources predicted fewer behavioral problems and psychopathologies (Allen-Meares et al, 2010;Criss et al, 2009;DuboisComtois et al, 2013;Goosby, 2007;Gross et al, 2009); more social support predicted fewer behavioral problems (Barker & Maughan, 2009;Heberle et al, 2014;Karevold et al, 2009); and greater maternal harshness correlated with more externalizing problems (Wang et al, 2013).…”

“…Childhood depression was the most frequently addressed psychopathology (Goosby, 2007;Lau et al, 2007;Lengua et al, 2008), and this outcome was common among the children of mothers with depression (Mendes, Loureiro, Crippa, et al, 2012). This finding might indicate the transgenerational nature of depression.…”

“…Regarding the informants, eight studies used the mother as the sole source of information (Anhalt et al, 2007;Barker & Maughan, 2009;Boyd & Tervo-Clemmens, 2013;Gerkensmeyer, Perkins, Day, et al, 2011;Gerkensmeyer, Perkins, Scott, et al, 2008;Goosby, 2007;Mickelson & Demmings, 2009;Zanca et al, 2013), and 13 studies did not specify the mothers' depression status at the time of data collection (Barker et al, 2012;Barker & Maughan, 2009;Brown et al, 2013;Criss et al, 2009;Dubois-Comtois et al, 2013;Goosby, 2007;Hart et al, 2008;Heberle et al, 2014;Karevold et al, 2009;Lau et al, 2007;Lengua et al, 2008;Piché et al, 2011;Wang et al, 2013). Because depressive symptoms may affect the quality of mothers' reports, implying a potential methodological problem that limits the validity of the information provided, 18 studies employed multiple respondents including not only mothers but also children, fathers, and teachers, which increased the validity of the findings.…”

“…The samples of five studies (Allen-Meares et al, 2010;Criss et al, 2009;Fatori et al, 2013;Goosby, 2007;Mickelson & Demmings, 2009) were considered high risk because they were mostly composed of families with low socioeconomic status. These families might have introduced a pre-established condition of combined risks into the analysis.…”