Maternal and Paternal Predictors of Child Depressive Symptoms: An Actor-Partner Interdependence Framework

Family members are theorized to influence each other via transactional or systems related processes; however, the literature is limited given its focus on mother-child relationships and the utilization of statistical approaches that do not model interdependence within family members. The current study evaluated associations between self-reported parental affect, parenting behavior, and child depressive symptoms among 103 mother-father-child triads. Children ranged in age from 8 to 12 years. Higher maternal negative affect was associated with greater maternal and paternal harsh/negative parenting behavior. While maternal negative affect was directly associated with child depressive symptoms, paternal negative affect was indirectly associated with child depressive symptoms via paternal harsh/negative behavior. In a separate model, maternal positive affect was indirectly associated with child depressive symptoms via maternal supportive/positive behavior. These results highlight the importance of simultaneously modeling maternal and paternal characteristics as predictors of child depressive symptoms.