Depression in mothers and behaviour problems with their preschool children

A follow-up study of 224 families of a birth cohort of 272 families in a multi-ethnic poor socio-economic municipality in Melbourne when the children were 4 years old showed that 27% of the mothers were depressed. There was no difference in the depression rate between Australian-born and immigrant mothers, a finding in marked contrast to the first year of the study when the depression rate was significantly higher in those immigrant mothers who had been in Australia for less than 3 years, were unable to speak English and who did not have an extended family or close friends. Depression in this group of mothers was attributed to resettlement problems, which over a period of three years had ameliorated. At 4 years the most important factor associated with depression in both Australian-born and immigrant mothers was the quality of marital relationships. Lack of an intimate support relationship made mothers more vulnerable to the stresses of child care and rearing, home-making and life events. In Australian-born mothers only, another significant factor in vulnerability to depression, was their early childhood experiences of being reared in a disruptive home or in an institution and of being unwanted. In immigrant mothers, but not in Australian-born mothers, life events were significantly correlated with depression. The depressed mothers, both Australian-born and immigrant, perceived their 4 year old children to have significantly more behavioural problems than mothers who were not depressed.