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Preschool children at social risk: Chronicity and timing of maternal depressive symptoms and child behavior problems at school and at home

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2008

Lisbeth Alpern  and
Karlen Lyons-Ruth
Lisbeth Alpern
Affiliation:
Boston University
Karlen Lyons-Ruth*
Affiliation:
Harvard Medical School
*
Address reprint requests to: K. Lyons-Ruth, Department of Psychiatry, Cambridge Hospital, 1493 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02139.
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Abstract

The current study investigated the relationship between previous, recent, or chronic maternal depressive symptoms and subtypes of child behavior problems rated by teachers and mothers among 64 low-income children aged 4–6 years. Sixty-nine percent of mothers with high depressive symptom levels at the preschool assessment had also reported high symptom levels during the child's infancy. Children whose mothers reported depressive symptoms at both ages exhibited significantly elevated rates of hostile behavior problems in the classroom and at home compared to children of never-depressed mothers. Children of mothers who were previously but not currently depressed showed significantly more anxious and withdrawn behavior at school and at home, while children of recently depressed mothers were more hyperactive and demanding. Child cognitive scores and father absence were also related to behavior problems, but these variables did not mediate the independent effects of chronicity and timing of maternal depressive symptoms on the types of child symptoms displayed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 5 , Issue 3 , Summer 1993 , pp. 371 - 387
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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