Depression in mothers and the externalizing and internalizing behavior of children: An attempt to go beyond association.

ABSTRACT: Hundreds of studies have documented an association between depression in mothers and behavior problems in children. Theory and empirical findings suggest this association may be confounded by other factors, but little attention has been paid to this issue. We used propensity score methods in a sample of 731 low-income families assessed repeatedly from child age 2 through 14 years to produce a weighted sample of families that were similar at child age 3 years except for mothers' depression. Depressive symptomatology was measured via self-report rating scale. Mothers were categorized as having clinically-elevated versus non-clinically-elevated scores based on an established threshold. Mothers with elevated versus nonelevated scores were equated on 89 other relevant characteristics (e.g., SES

SUBMITTER: Pelham WE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9798272 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature