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Maternal and Paternal Depressive Symptoms as Predictors of Toddler Adjustment

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Abstract

In this study we explored the relation between maternal and paternal depressive symptoms and toddler adjustment in a community sample, testing direct, additive, and interactive models of parental depressive symptoms and child adjustment. Participants were 49 families with 30-month-old children. Data were collected on maternal and paternal depressive symptoms and marital quality, as well as on toddler internalizing and externalizing behavior. The data supported an additive, but not interactive, model of prediction to externalizing behavior, such that maternal and paternal symptoms each accounted for unique variance in the prediction of toddler externalizing. Models predicting toddler internalizing were not significant. Maternal reports of marital quality, but not paternal reports of marital quality, reduced the magnitude of the relation between symptoms and child externalizing when entered as a covariate. Implications for depression screening of parents are discussed.

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Author notes

  1. Nancy S. Weinfield

    Present address: Westat, 1450 Research Blvd., Rockville, MD, 20850, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Gilmer Hall, Charlottesville, VA, 22904, USA

    Nancy S. Weinfield, Lisa Ingerski & Stacey Coffey Moreau

Authors
  1. Nancy S. Weinfield
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  2. Lisa Ingerski
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  3. Stacey Coffey Moreau
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Correspondence to Nancy S. Weinfield.

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Weinfield, N.S., Ingerski, L. & Moreau, S.C. Maternal and Paternal Depressive Symptoms as Predictors of Toddler Adjustment. J Child Fam Stud 18, 39–47 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-008-9205-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-008-9205-2

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