Preschoolers’ Psychopathology and Temperament Predict Mothers’ Later Mood Disorders

Abstract

Considerable research exists documenting the relationship between maternal mood disorders, primarily major depressive disorder (MDD), and a variety of negative child outcomes. By contrast, research exploring the reverse pathway whereby child traits are associated with later maternal mood disorders is much more limited. We examined whether young children’s temperament and psychopathology predicted maternal mood disorders approximately 6 years later. Child temperament and symptoms were assessed at age three using semi-structured diagnostic interviews and parent-report inventories. Maternal psychopathology was assessed with semi-structured interviews when children were three and nine years old. Mothers also reported on their marital satisfaction when children were three and six years old. Child temperamental negative affectivity (NA), depressive symptoms, and externalizing behavior problems significantly predicted maternal mood disorders over and above prior maternal mood, anxiety, and substance disorders. The link between children’s early externalizing symptoms and maternal mood disorders 6 years later was mediated by maternal marital satisfaction 3 years after the initial assessment. These findings suggest that early child temperament and psychopathology contribute to risk for later maternal mood disorders both directly and through their impact on the marital system. Research indicates that effective treatment of maternal depression is associated with positive outcomes for children; however, this study suggests that treating early child problems may mitigate the risk of later maternal psychopathology.

Assessing longitudinal pathways between maternal depressive symptoms, parenting self-esteem and infant temperament

“…These findings are in agreement with others reporting the effects of prenatal depressive symptoms on child behavior [27], those indicating concurrent connections between maternal depression and child temperament [3, 10, 47], and those demonstrating no longitudinal effects of infant temperament on maternal depression [37, 57]. They are, though, inconsistent with those evidencing mother to child or child to mother effects in the postpartum period [3, 8–10, 38, 39, 47, 60].…”

“…Important differences exist between these prior studies and the current work. Waerden et al [60] assessed the link between child behavioral problems and maternal depression trajectories from pregnancy to five years postpartum, and Allmann et al [38] examined temperament at age three in relation to depression six years later. The effect of infant temperament on maternal mental health may build steadily over time, such that the relatively brief span in the current study was insufficient to substantially change mothers’ wellness, in comparison to the pervasive effect of caring for a challenging child over several years.…”

“…One study that controlled for earlier levels of maternal symptomology through multiple regression arrived at the conclusion that child mood at 6 months did not affect maternal depression at 24 months [37]. Two others used cross-lagged path-models to examine associations between child characteristics and maternal depression: Allman et al [38] found children’s negative affectivity to predict increases in maternal depression between child ages 3 and 9 years, whereas Forbes et al [39] reported that child EEG right hemisphere asymmetry at age 5 years was associated with elevated levels of maternal depressive symptoms one year later, also finding effects of maternal symptoms on later child emotionality.…”

“…The few studies that have employed longitudinal designs have typically used multiple regression analysis [3, 21, 37, 46, 47], which could have resulted in inadequate estimates of the longitudinal relations. To our knowledge, only two studies have applied cross-lagged path models to longitudinal relations between maternal symptomatology and children’s emotional behavior [38, 39]. To explore longitudinal relations between maternal depressive symptoms, parenting competence, and infant temperament, the present study used structural equation modeling with observed variables (path analysis), including data on infant temperament from two time points and on the remaining variables from three time points.…”

Clinical Considerations When Treating Adults Who Are Parents

“…Daughters’ depressive, conduct disorder, and oppositional defiant symptoms predict the recurrence of maternal depressive episodes (Sellers et al., ). Young children's difficult temperament and symptomatic behavior predict future increases in maternal mood symptoms (Allmann, Kopala‐Sibley, & Klein, ). Taken together, these findings underscore the influences children's behavior can have on parents, an aspect of adult functioning that is easily overlooked in evidence‐based adult psychotherapy modalities.…”