Parental depressive symptoms and marital intimacy at 4.5 years: joint contributions to mother-child and father-child interaction at 6.5 years.

ABSTRACT: Using data from a subset of 606 families who participated in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, we assessed emotional intimacy in the marriage as a buffer of the negative effects of parental depression on the quality of parent-child interaction. Maternal and paternal depressive symptoms and perceptions of emotional intimacy in the marriage were assessed via self-reports when children were 4.5 years old, and parental sensitive scaffolding and child task orientation were observed during mother-child and father-child interaction tasks at 4.5 years and again at 6.5 years. Path analyses indicated that marital intimacy moderated the longitudinal association between parental depressive symptoms and parent-child interaction

SUBMITTER: Engle JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8892797 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature