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Citation |
Tichovolsky MH, Griffith SF, Rolon-Arroyo B, Arnold DH, Harvey EA. J. Clin. Child Adolesc. Psychol. 2016; ePub(ePub): ePub. |
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Affiliation |
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences , University of Massachusetts Amherst. |
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Copyright |
(Copyright © 2016, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group) |
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DOI |
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PMID |
27654698 |
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Abstract |
Considerable research has examined the effects of maternal depression on children, but few studies have focused on the relation between paternal and child depressive symptoms, particularly during early childhood. Even fewer studies have been longitudinal, leaving open questions about how paternal and child depression covary over time. The present study sought to address this gap by examining the relation between fathers' and children's depressive symptoms over a 3-year period. Participants were 153 preschool children with behavior problems and their parents. Three longitudinal analytic approaches were used to examine how father and child depression change together and predict one another over time. Additional analyses examined whether externalizing problems or maternal depression might account for the associations between fathers' and children's depressive symptoms. Changes in paternal depression significantly predicted changes in father-reported and mother-reported child depressive symptoms. These effects were evident both in year-to-year fluctuations and in linear trajectories across the 3-year period. Cross-lagged analyses suggested that these relations may have been driven by father-effects; paternal depression at one time point predicted child depression at the next time point, but child depression did not significantly predict later paternal depression. We found little evidence that externalizing problems or maternal depression accounted for the relations between fathers' and children's depressive symptoms. Language: en |