Long-term association of parental warmth with depression and obesity: Mediation by conscientiousness

The current study examined the psychosocial processes related to the health outcomes of depression and obesity. Specifically, the mediating role of participant's trait conscientiousness on the relation between early experiences of paternal/maternal warmth and later depressive symptoms/obesity across 20 years and how this relationship is moderated by age across adulthood.

The current study utilized a national longitudinal data set, Midlife in the United States. Participants (N = 2,257) completed a survey rating the warmth they received from their fathers and mothers as children at Time 1 (T1; Ages 25-75). Participants reported their trait conscientiousness 10 years later (Time 2; T2). Depressive symptoms and body mass index were collected 10 years later (Time 3; T3). A moderated mediation model was used to examine whether the effect of parental warmth on health outcomes was mediated by trait conscientiousness and moderated by age.

An indirect effect of maternal warmth on depressive symptoms and obesity, mediated by conscientiousness, was found. This effect is moderated by age such that the indirect effect is stronger in older adults. While paternal warmth did not have a significant indirect effect on either depressive symptoms or obesity, the effect was not significantly different from the maternal indirect effect.

The study supported the role of trait conscientiousness in linking the effect of early parental warmth to later health outcomes. This study also found that the strength of the indirect effect of parental warmth through conscientiousness increases with age. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).