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Why Is Maternal Depression Related to Adolescent Internalizing Problems? A 15-Year Population-Based Study

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Objective

Exposure to maternal depression during early childhood is a well-documented risk factor for offspring’s internalizing problems, but the long-term risk and the psychosocial mechanisms underlying the association remain largely unknown. We examined whether maternal depression during early childhood was associated with offspring internalizing problems in adolescence, and the extent to which negative parenting, peer victimization, and poor friendship quality during middle childhood mediated this association.

Method

We report on a population-based sample of children (n = 1,443) followed-up from 5 months to 15 years. We use yearly assessments of the exposure variable, that is, maternal depression (5 months to 5 years); the putative mediators, that is, peer victimization, friendship quality, and parenting practices (6−12 years); and assessment of the outcome variables at 15 years: self-reported major depressive (MD), generalized anxiety (GA), and social phobia (SP) symptoms. Structural equation modeling was used to test mediation by peer and family relationships.

Results

Exposure to maternal depression during early childhood was associated with higher levels of adolescent MD, GA, and SP. Peer victimization was the only significant mediator and explained 35.9% of the association with adolescent MD, 22.1% of that with GA, and 22.1% of that with SP.

Conclusion

Exposure to maternal depression prior to age 5 years was associated with depression, anxiety, and social phobia extending to adolescence via its impact on peer victimization during middle childhood. Particular attention should be paid to victimization as one potential psychosocial factor via which maternal depression is associated with adolescent internalizing problems.

Section snippets

Participants

Participants were part of the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (1998−2011), a sample of 2,120 families with a 5-month-old infant born in 1997 to 1998. The sample was drawn from the Quebec Master Birth registry. All mothers giving birth after 24 weeks’ gestation and speaking French or English were eligible. Families were assessed yearly between 5 months and 8 years and every 2 years between 8 and 12 years by trained interviewers in the family’s home. Adolescent mental health was

Results

The analysis sample includes 1,443 participants (68% of the original sample) with at least one measure of depression, anxiety, and social phobia at 15 years. To account for attrition, we conducted analyses with and without inverse probability weights, representing participants’ probabilities of being included in the study sample conditional on variables related to attrition: (1) sex (males: 47.8% in analysis sample versus 57.6% in cohort sample, χ2 = 17.67, p < .001); (2) participants’

Discussion

Using a large population-based cohort study covering infancy to adolescence, we found that children exposed to elevated symptoms of maternal depression during the first 5 years of life had higher rates of major depression, generalized anxiety, and social phobia symptoms in adolescence. When comparing the role of three potential relational mediators during middle childhood—negative parenting, poor friendship quality, and being victimized by one’s peers—we found only victimization by peers to

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    The Québec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (QLSCD) was supported by funding from the Québec Government’s Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Family Affairs, the Lucie and André Chagnon Foundation, the Robert-Sauvé Research Institute of Health and Security at Work, and the Québec Statistics Institute (ISQ). Additional funding was received by the Fonds de Recherche du Québec—Santé (FRQS), the Fonds de Recherche du Québec—Societé et Culture (FRQSC), the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the St-Justine Research Centre.

    Drs. Brendgen, Orri, and Liu served as statistical experts for this research.

    Disclosure: Drs. Côté, Herba, Brendgen, Geoffroy, Orri, Liu, Vitaro, Melchior, Boivin, Tremblay, and Ms. Ahun report no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.

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