Maternal Emotion Socialization,Depressive Symptoms and Child Emotion Regulation: Child Emotionality as a Moderator

This study tested a model of children's emotionality as a moderator of the links between maternal emotion socialization and depressive symptoms and child emotion regulation. Participants were 128 mother–preschooler dyads. Child emotion expression and emotion regulation strategies were assessed observationally during a disappointment task, and a principal component analysis revealed three factors: passive soothing (including sadness and comfort seeking), negative focus on distress (including anger, focus on distress and low active distraction) and positive engagement (including positive emotion, active play and passive waiting, which was loaded negatively). Hierarchical linear regression models revealed that child positive emotionality (PE) and negative emotionality (NE) moderated the links between maternal support/positive emotion expression and child emotion regulation strategies. In particular, children's low PE exacerbated the association between lack of maternal support and child passive soothing, whereas high PE enhanced the association between maternal positive expression and reduced negative focus on distress. Furthermore, the associations of mothers' support and reduced passive soothing and negative focus on distress, as well as the association between mothers' positive expression and child positive engagement, were stronger for children with low levels of NE, compared with those with average and high levels of NE. Findings partially support a diathesis–stress model in understanding the effects of both child characteristics and the familial influence on child emotion regulation. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Maternal and Paternal Depressive Symptoms and Child Maladjustment: The Mediating Role of Parental Behavior

This study examined parental behaviors as mediators in links between depressive symptoms in mothers and fathers and child adjustment problems. Participants were 4,184 parents and 6,048 10- to 15-year-olds enrolled in the 1998 and 2000 cycles of the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth. Mothers and fathers self-reported symptoms of depression at Times 1 and 2 and their children assessed parental nurturance, rejection, and monitoring and self-reported internalizing and externalizing problems and prosocial behavior at Time 2. Hierarchical linear modeling showed evidence of mediation involving all three domains of parental behavior. Findings supported the hypothesis that the quality of the child's rearing environment is one mechanism that carries risk to children of depressed parents. Interventions for parents whose symptoms of depression interfere with parenting responsibilities could help reduce the risk of some childhood disorders.     

Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Child Social Preference During the Early School Years: Mediation by Maternal Warmth and Child Emotion Regulation

This longitudinal study examined processes that mediate the association between maternal depressive symptoms and peer social preference during the early school years. Three hundred and fifty six kindergarten children (182 boys) and their mothers participated in the study. During kindergarten, mothers reported their level of depressive symptomatology. In first grade, teachers rated children’s emotion regulation at school and observers rated the affective quality of mother-child interactions. During second grade, children’s social preference was assessed by peer nomination. Results indicated that mothers’ level of depressive symptomatology negatively predicted their child’s social preference 2 years later, controlling for the family SES and teacher-rated social preference during kindergarten. Among European American families, the association between maternal depressive symptoms and social preference was partially mediated by maternal warmth and the child’s emotion regulation. Although the relation between maternal depressive symptoms and children peer preference was stronger among African American families than Europrean American families, its mediation by the maternal warmth and child’s emotion regulation was not found in African American families.     

The Relation Between Co-rumination, Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Child Psychopathology

Little is known about which processes explain the well-established link between maternal and child symptomatology. Interpersonal coping processes may be worth exploring, as depressed mothers have characteristic coping styles that may influence interactions with their children. We examined two interpersonal coping processes as potential factors explaining how depressive symptomatology in mothers impacts child psychopathology: parent-child co-rumination (dwelling on negative affect, over-analyzing problems) and impaired problem-solving. We analyzed 198 aggressive children (most of whom also had elevated internalizing symptoms) who engaged in structured discussions with their mothers. Coders rated the extent to which dyads problem-solved and co-ruminated during discussions, and mothers filled out questionnaires assessing maternal and child symptoms. Path analysis tested whether higher levels of co-rumination and poor problem-solving statistically mediated the relation between depressive symptoms in mothers and child internalizing and externalizing behaviour. Maternal depressive symptomatology was correlated with greater child symptoms, higher rates of co-rumination and poorer problem-solving. Statistical mediation was non-significant. Results support the established link between maternal depression and child psychopathology, and suggest that dysphoric mothers and their children engage in maladaptive coping interactions.     

Emotion Regulation Among Preschoolers on a Continuum of Risk: The Role of Maternal Emotion Coaching

Parental emotion coaching involves acknowledging and validating children’s feelings, as well as guiding them on how to manage intense or negative feelings. Although parental emotion coaching has been identified as a potentially important factor for children’s emotional development, research into this topic is scant. The present study examined whether maternal emotion coaching can play a mediational role between family risk (i.e. economic disadvantage, family stress, and maltreatment) and emotion regulation in preschoolers. Seventy-four preschoolers, aged 46–58 months, and their maternal caregivers participated in an observational laboratory study, including a narrative task in which mothers and children reminisced about a mildly upsetting event. We coded these conversations for maternal emotion coaching behaviors with the Family Emotional Communication Scoring System. A family risk score was obtained via the Family Events Checklist and demographic data. We measured children’s emotion regulation with the Emotion Regulation Checklist. Increased family risk was associated with both reduced child emotion regulation and reduced maternal emotion coaching. Maternal emotion coaching partially mediated the relation between family risk and child emotion regulation, in particular child emotional lability. The findings support further research into the possibilities of training mothers in high risk families in emotion coaching skills in order to foster their children’s emotional development.     

Attachment Quality and Psychopathological Symptoms in Clinically Referred Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Early Maladaptive Schema

This study investigated relationships between attachment insecurity, maladaptive cognitive schemas, and various types of psychopathological symptoms in a sample of clinically referred adolescents (N = 82). A mediation model was tested in which maladaptive schemas operated as mediators in the relations between indices of attachment quality and conduct, peer, and emotional problems. Results revealed partial support for the hypothesized mediation effect: the schema domain of disconnection/rejection acted as a mediator in the links between insecure attachment and peer problems and emotional problems. Further analysis of these effects revealed that different types of maladaptive schemas were involved in both types of psychopathology. Altogether, findings suggest that treatment of adolescent psychological problems may need to target the improvement of attachment relationships with peers and parents and the correction of underlying cognitive schemas.     

Maternal and Paternal Predictors of Child Depressive Symptoms: An Actor-Partner Interdependence Framework

Family members are theorized to influence each other via transactional or systems related processes; however, the literature is limited given its focus on mother–child relationships and the utilization of statistical approaches that do not model interdependence within family members. The current study evaluated associations between self-reported parental affect, parenting behavior, and child depressive symptoms among 103 mother–father–child triads. Children ranged in age from 8 to 12 years. Higher maternal negative affect was associated with greater maternal and paternal harsh/negative parenting behavior. While maternal negative affect was directly associated with child depressive symptoms, paternal negative affect was indirectly associated with child depressive symptoms via paternal harsh/negative behavior. In a separate model, maternal positive affect was indirectly associated with child depressive symptoms via maternal supportive/positive behavior. These results highlight the importance of simultaneously modeling maternal and paternal characteristics as predictors of child depressive symptoms.     

The Role of Maternal and Child ADHD Symptoms in Shaping Interpersonal Relationships

The current study investigated the influence of maternal ADHD symptoms on: (a) mothers’ own social functioning; (b) their child’s social functioning; and (c) parent–child interactions following a lab-based playgroup involving children and their peers. Participants were 103 biological mothers of children ages 6–10. Approximately half of the children had ADHD, and the remainder were comparison youth. After statistical control of children’s ADHD diagnostic status and mothers’ educational attainment, mothers’ own inattentive ADHD symptoms predicted poorer self-reported social skills. Children with ADHD were reported to have more social problems by parents and teachers, as well as received fewer positive sociometric nominations from playgroup peers relative to children without ADHD. After control of child ADHD status, higher maternal inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity each predicted children having more parent-reported social problems; maternal inattention predicted children receiving more negative sociometric nominations from playgroup peers. There were interactions between maternal ADHD symptoms and children’s ADHD diagnostic status in predicting some child behaviors and parent–child relationship measures. Specifically, maternal inattention was associated with decreased prosocial behavior for children without ADHD, but did not influence the prosocial behavior of children with ADHD. Maternal inattention was associated with mothers’ decreased corrective feedback and, at a trend level, decreased irritability toward their children with ADHD, but there was no relationship between maternal inattention and maternal behaviors for children without ADHD. A similar pattern was observed for maternal hyperactivity/impulsivity and mothers’ observed irritability towards their children. Treatment implications of findings are discussed.     

Coparental Affect,Children's Emotion Dysregulation,and Parent and Child Depressive Symptoms

Children's emotion dysregulation and depressive symptoms are known to be affected by a range of individual (parent, child) and systemic (parent–child, marital, and family) characteristics. The current study builds on this literature by examining the unique role of coparental affect in children's emotion dysregulation, and whether this association mediates the link between parent and child depressive symptoms. Participants were 51 mother–father–child triads with children aged 7 to 12 (M age = 9.24 years). Triads discussed a time when the child felt sad and a time when the child felt happy. Maternal and paternal displays of positive affect were coded, and sequential analyses examined the extent to which parents were congruent in their displays of positive affect during the emotion discussions. Results indicated that interparental positive affect congruity (IPAC) during the sadness discussion, but not the happiness discussion, uniquely predicted parent‐reported child emotion dysregulation, above and beyond the contributions of child negative affect and parental punitive reactions. The degree of IPAC during the sadness discussion and child emotion dysregulation mediated the association between maternal, but not paternal, depressive symptoms and child depressive symptoms. Findings highlight the unique role of coparental affect in the socialization of sadness in youth and offer initial support for low levels of IPAC as a risk factor for the transmission of depressive symptoms in youth.     

Obsessive-Compulsive and Depressive Symptoms: The Role of Depressive Cognitive Styles

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) commonly co-occurs with depression, resulting in heightened severity and poorer treatment response. Research on the associations between specific obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) and depressive symptoms has utilized measures that have not fully considered the relationship across OCS dimensions. Little is known about which factors explain the overlap between OCS and depressive symptoms. OCS and depressive symptoms may be related via depressive cognitive styles, such as rumination or dampening (i.e., down-regulating positive emotions). We evaluated the associations of OCS dimensions with depressive symptoms and cognitive styles. We also examined the indirect effects of rumination and dampening in the relationship between OCS and depressive symptoms. Participants (N = 250) completed questionnaires online. Greater depressive symptoms, rumination, and dampening were associated with greater levels of all OCS dimensions. Path analysis was utilized to examine a model including the direct effect of depressive symptoms on overall OCS and two indirect effects (through rumination and dampening). There was a significant indirect effect of depressive cognitive styles on the relationship between OCS and depressive symptoms, through rumination and dampening. Replication in a clinical sample and experimental manipulations may bear important implications for targeting depressive cognitive styles in treatments for OCD and depression.     

Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Child Externalizing Problems: Moderating Effects of Emotionally Maltreating Parenting Behaviors

While prior research has examined the relationship between maternal depressive symptoms and child externalizing behaviors, little research has focused specifically on the moderating effects of observed parenting behaviors on this relationship. This study was conducted to investigate the role of emotionally maltreating parenting behaviors, which were hypothesized to exacerbate the strength of the relationship between maternal depressive symptoms and child behavior problems. Maternal depressive symptoms, child externalizing problems, and emotionally maltreating parenting behaviors were assessed in a community sample of 62 mother–child dyads (with children age 8–11 years). Results indicated the overall model was significant, after controlling for maternal race, as was the interaction between maternal depressive symptoms and emotionally maltreating parenting behaviors. Based on these findings, future research is needed to identify potential protective factors that may prevent depressive symptoms from negatively affecting parenting behaviors, with the attendant goal of decreasing risk for emotional maltreatment.     

Attachment Representations and Maternal Confidence: The Mediating Role of Postnatal Depressive Symptoms and Negative Thoughts

Attachment security can act as an inner resource to promote women’s adjustment to motherhood. However, the mechanisms explaining the relationship between attachment representations and maternal adaptation outcomes are not well understood. This study aimed to examine the direct and indirect effects of attachment representations on maternal confidence, through postpartum negative automatic thoughts and depressive symptoms. The sample consisted of 387 postpartum women who completed a cross-sectional online survey including measures of attachment representations, depressive symptoms, postpartum negative automatic thoughts and maternal confidence. Our results showed a significant relationship between more insecure attachment representations and higher depressive symptoms (p?<?.001), but also with more frequent postpartum negative automatic thoughts (p?<?.001); depressive symptoms and postpartum negative automatic thoughts were also inversely associated with women’s maternal confidence (p?<?.001). Moreover, indirect effects of attachment representations on maternal confidence were found, but only through postpartum negative thoughts [attachment-related anxiety: 95% CI?=??0.03/?0.01; attachment-related avoidance: 95% CI?=??0.05/?0.01]. The results of the present study emphasize the important role of the cognitive component of depressive symptomatology (postpartum negative automatic thoughts) in the relationship between attachment representations and maternal confidence, allowing to draw specific implications. We highlight the implications for clinical practice during the perinatal period to address both negative thoughts and women’s maternal confidence.     

Maternal Psychosocial Maladjustment and Child Internalizing Symptoms: Investigating the Modulating Role of Maternal Sensitivity

In light of evidence suggesting that maternal adaptation may impact early child emotional development, this study investigated the interactive effects of maternal psychosocial maladjustment and maternal sensitivity on child internalizing symptoms, with the aim of investigating the potentially protective function of maternal sensitivity. Families (N?=?71 to 106 across measures, with gender spread almost evenly: number of boys?=?31 to 51 across measures) took part in four assessments between child ages 1 and 3 years. Mothers completed measures of parental stress, psychological distress, and marital satisfaction when their children were between 12 and 15 months. A composite score of maternal psychosocial maladjustment was derived from these measures. Maternal sensitivity was rated by trained observers at 12 months following a home visit. Child internalizing symptoms were assessed by both parents when the child was 2 and 3 years old. Hierarchical regressions revealed that increased maternal psychosocial maladjustment was related to more internalizing symptoms in children, however only among children of less sensitive mothers. In contrast, children of more sensitive mothers appeared to be protected. This was observed with maternal reports at 2 years, and both maternal and paternal reports at 3 years. These results suggest that young children may be differentially affected by their parents’ emotional adjustment, while highlighting the pivotal protective role of maternal sensitivity in this process.     

The Role of Intimate Exchange in the Link Between Reactive Aggression and Child Depressive Symptoms

Although the link between reactively aggressive behavior and depressive symptoms in childhood has been demonstrated in previous work, few studies have examined how peer factors may influence this association. Examining the role of peers in the link between reactive aggression and depressive symptoms is necessary, as peers have been found to buffer the impact of factors that contribute to depressive symptoms in childhood. Accordingly, we examined whether intimate exchange with a best friend moderated the association between reactive aggression and depression in childhood in a sample of 115 children (aged 5–14; M = 8.88; 87 % minority; 53 % male) who attended a community based summer program. Consistent with expectation, reactive aggression was positively associated with child depressive symptoms whereas proactive aggression was negatively associated with depressive symptoms. Further, the interaction between intimate exchange and reactive aggression was associated with child depressive symptoms. Specifically, the association between reactive aggression and depressive symptoms was weaker when levels of intimate exchange were high. Thus, the current study suggests that close peer relationships may help to buffer the link between reactively aggressive behavior and depressive symptoms. Implications for findings include the need to target friendships to help prevent depressive symptoms for reactively aggressive youth.     

Implications of Timing of Maternal Depressive Symptoms for Early Cognitive and Language Development

: Statistically, women, particularly pregnant women and new mothers, are at heightened risk for depression. The present review describes the current state of the research linking maternal depressed mood and children's cognitive and language development. Exposure to maternal depressive symptoms, whether during the prenatal period, postpartum period, or chronically, has been found to increase children's risk for later cognitive and language difficulties. The present review considers both the timing of maternal depression and the chronicity of mothers' depression on children's risk for cognitive and language delays. Infancy is frequently identified as a sensitive period in which environmental stimulation has the potential to substantially influence children's cognitive and language development. However, children's exposure to chronic maternal depression seems to be associated with more problematic outcomes for children, perhaps because depression interferes with mothers' ability to respond sensitively and consistently over time. Consistent with this expectation, interventions targeting parenting practices of depressed mothers have been found to increase children's cognitive competence during early childhood. The current review provides a synthesis of the current state of the field regarding the association between maternal depression and children's cognitive and language development during early childhood.     

母亲元情绪理念与儿童情绪调节能力发展的关系：母亲情绪调节的中介作用

以540名小学一、三、五年级儿童的母亲为对象,采用回归分析和路径分析技术,考察了母亲元情绪理念及其情绪调节对儿童情绪调节能力发展的预测作用及其机制。结果表明：（1）母亲情绪教导和情绪紊乱理念对儿童情绪稳定性的发展具有直接预测作用,且以其高冲动性为中介对儿童情绪稳定性的发展具有间接预测作用;（2）母亲情绪教导理念对儿童情绪调节性的发展具有直接预测作用,且以其情绪调节策略缺乏为中介对儿童情绪调节性的发展具有间接预测作用。因此,母亲情绪教导理念有助于其不良情绪的控制和更加灵活多样的情绪调节策略,而对自身不良情绪的有效控制和更灵活的情绪应对策略,将有助于促进其孩子情绪调节能力的发展。     

Dyadic Flexibility in Early Parent–Child Interactions: Relations with Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Child Negativity and Behaviour Problems

Lower levels of parent–child affective flexibility indicate risk for children's problem outcomes. This short‐term longitudinal study examined whether maternal depressive symptoms were related to lower levels of dyadic affective flexibility and positive affective content in mother–child problem‐solving interactions at age 3.5 years (N = 100) and whether these maternal and dyadic factors predicted child emotional negativity and behaviour problems at a 4‐month follow‐up. Dyadic flexibility and positive affect were measured using dynamic systems‐based modelling of second‐by‐second affective patterns during a mother–child problem‐solving task. Results showed that higher levels of maternal depressive symptoms were related to lower levels of dyadic affective flexibility, which predicted children's higher levels of negativity and behaviour problems as rated by teachers. Mothers' ratings of child negativity and behaviour problems were predicted by their own depressive symptoms and individual child factors, but not by dyadic flexibility. There were no effects of dyadic positive affect. Findings highlight the importance of studying patterns in real‐time dyadic parent–child interactions as potential mechanisms of risk in developmental psychopathology. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.