Parenting While Depressed: Mothers' Perceptions, Behaviors, and Involvement

Background:

The maternal-child relationship is one of the most important relationships a child will develop (Laible et al., 2015). Maternal depression may disrupt this fundamental relationship (Goodman et al., 2011; Hardie & Landale, 2013), with a negative maternal-child relationship representing one of the most well-noted mechanisms through which maternal depression impacts child wellbeing (Farmer & Lee, 2011; Goodman et al., 2011; Lampard et al., 2014). Studies examining the impact of maternal depression on the maternal-child relationship focus almost exclusively on early childhood. As children age and become more autonomous, the nature of the relationship with their mother will change. Few studies have examined the maternal-child relationship in the context of maternal depression for school-aged children. This study examined the differences between depressed and non-depressed mothers of school-aged children related to perceptions of parenting, disciplinary behaviors, and parent involvement.

Methods: Data were drawn from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study, an ongoing study of 4,898 children born between 1998-2000 to single mothers in 20 US cities (Waldfogel et al., 2010). Follow-up interviews were conducted when the child was 1-, 3-, 5-, and 9-years old. This study focused on the 9-year follow-up. Maternal depression was measured using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (WHO, 1994). Parenting stress was measured using the Parenting Stress Inventory (Abidin, 1995). Parenting competence included three items related to perceptions of self as a parent, feelings of closeness to child, and ability to communicate with child. Parenting behaviors included three subscales of the Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale (Straus, 1979): non-violent discipline, psychological aggression, and physical assault. Parent involvement included10-items related to past-month maternal-child interactions, including household routines (e.g. doing dishes together), recreational activities (e.g. playing outside together), and academic support (e.g. helped with homework). Multivariate regression analyses controlling for child age, sex, and income-to-poverty level examined the impact of maternal depression on each relationship outcome.

Results:

            At the 9-year follow-up, 16.1% of mothers met diagnostic criteria for past-year depression. Results from multivariate regression analyses indicated that maternal depression predicted higher levels of parenting stress (b=1.32, p<.001) and lower levels of parenting competence (b=-.28, p<.001), controlling for child age, sex, and income-to-poverty level. Maternal depression was associated with increased rates of physical assault (b=1.99, p<.001) and psychological aggression (b=6.93, p<.001), as well as non-violent discipline (b=5.32, p<.001), controlling for covariates. Maternal depression was not associated with difference in the level of involvement (p=.886), with nearly identical rates of involvement between depressed and non-depressed mothers on a range of activities.

Conclusion:

Depressed mothers were equally involved with their child, but more likely to hold negative views of their parenting competency and perceive parenting as more stressful. Result suggest that depressed mothers may need support around the appraisal of parenting stress and competence, as well as support for engaging in adaptive disciplinary tactics. Understanding differences in the parent-child relationship between depressed and non-depressed mothers offers an important insight for social work intervention. The conceptualization of the mother-child relationship represents three areas in which social workers may have the largest influence.