Abstract: Exploring the Relationship between Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Parental Warmth: The Moderating Role of Exposure to Verbal Abuse (Society for Social Work and Research 22nd Annual Conference - Achieving Equal Opportunity, Equity, and Justice)

Schedule:

Friday, January 12, 2018: 10:07 AM

Monument (ML 4) (Marriott Marquis Washington DC)

* noted as presenting author

Abigail Palmer, MSW, PhD Student, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA

William Monro, MSW, Project Manager of Project ABC Evaluation Team, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA

Ferol Mennen, PhD, Associate Professor, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA

Background: Maternal depressive symptoms are linked to poor parenting. Studies have shown that mothers experiencing depression often are less sensitive and attentive to their child’s cues due to their symptoms, as well as more critical of their children. However, few studies have explored the moderating role of maternal exposure to trauma, particularly intimate partner violence and coercion, on the relationship between maternal depressive symptoms and maternal parenting behaviors in a community-based sample. The objective of this paper is to examine the relationships between maternal depressive symptoms, maternal exposure to verbal abuse and assault in her relationship with her partner, additional maternal trauma exposure, and mother’s parenting behaviors, including warmth, control, and hostility.

Methods: Data were collected as part of a community-based intervention study that sought to provide an evidence-based mental health treatment to mothers with depression to improve maternal mental health, mother’s relationships with their young children, and children’s functioning. At intake into services, an extensive packet of measures was administered to evaluate functioning on multiple levels for both the mother and her young child, as well as assessments of parenting and the parent-child relationship. For this analysis, we included data on maternal depression (the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression), maternal exposure to intimate partner abuse and coercion (the Conflict Tactics Scale), trauma history (the Trauma History Questionnaire) and parenting behaviors (the Parent Behavior Inventory). The final sample consisted of 150 biological mothers at intake. Multiple regression was used to assess the relationships between maternal exposure to intimate partner abuse, maternal depressive symptoms, and maternal parenting behaviors.

Results: Bivariate and multiple regression analyses were conducted. Multiple regression analysis revealed a significant negative association between maternal depressive symptoms on the CES-D and parental warmth on the PBI, even after controlling for child sex and mother’s race (p<.01). Interaction effects were examined, including the potential moderating impact of exposure to intimate partner violence and coercion on the CTS and additional trauma exposure on the THQ. The CTS appeared to moderate these relationships, but the THQ did not. The final model revealed that maternal exposure to verbal abuse moderated the relationship between maternal depressive symptomatology and maternal warmth with their children (p<.01).

Conclusions and Implications: This study shows that maternal exposure to trauma, particularly abuse and coercion in her relationship with her partner, has a significant impact on the relationship between maternal depressive symptoms and mother’s expression of warmth in their relationships with their children. Therefore, interventions aimed at addressing maternal depressive symptomatology would benefit from also screening for and targeting mother’s trauma histories, as well as assessing mother’s safety in their relationships with their partners.