Citation

Vreeland A, Bettis AH, Reising MM, Dunbar JP, Watson KH, Gruhn MA, Compas BE. J. Youth Adolesc. 2019; 48(8): 1580-1591.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology & Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Peabody 552, 230 Appleton Place, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10964-019-01033-y

PMID

31134560

Abstract

Youth's responses to stress are a central feature of risk and resilience across development. The current study examined whether youth coping and stress reactivity moderate the association of current maternal depressive symptoms with youth's internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Mothers (M_age = 41.58, SD = 6.18) with a wide range of depressive symptoms and their children ages 9-15 (M_age = 12.25, SD = 1.89, 45.3% girls) completed measures of youth symptoms and coping and automatic responses to stress. Mothers also completed a self-report measure of depressive symptoms. Youth's primary and secondary control coping, stress reactivity, and involuntary disengagement moderated the association between current maternal depressive symptoms and youth symptoms. Maternal depressive symptoms were associated with youth's internalizing and externalizing symptoms when youth used low as opposed to high levels of primary and secondary control coping. Conversely, maternal depressive symptoms were associated with youth symptoms for youth with high levels of stress reactivity and involuntary disengagement. The findings suggest interventions focused on improving the use of primary and secondary control coping skills and reducing reactivity and involuntary disengagement to stress may benefit youth with mothers who are experiencing high levels of depressive symptoms.

Language: en

Keywords

Coping; Maternal depression; Stress reactivity