Testing Bidirectional Effects between Maternal and Child Depression During Middle Childhood

Hewitt, Jackson

Testing Bidirectional Effects between Maternal and Child Depression During Middle Childhood

dc.contributor.advisor	Madigan, Sheri
dc.contributor.advisor	McArthur, Brae Anne
dc.contributor.author	Hewitt, Jackson
dc.contributor.committeemember	Yeates, Keith
dc.contributor.committeemember	Birnie, Kathryn
dc.contributor.committeemember	Kopala Sibley, Daniel
dc.date	2024-11
dc.date.accessioned	2024-09-19T14:32:57Z
dc.date.available	2024-09-19T14:32:57Z
dc.date.issued	2024-09-18
dc.description.abstract	Background: To date, the understanding of depression within families has primarily focused on a single direction, from parents to children. Extensive research has focused on this perspective, leading to the development of various hypotheses, such as the spillover hypothesis and the intergenerational transmission of depression. These unidirectional hypotheses suggest that parent depression influences the development of child depression. More recently, a new hypothesis has emerged – child evocative effects. This hypothesis proposes that there are more bidirectional and dynamic interactions within the family unit, wherein children can also influence parents’ depression. Objectives: Using a prospective pregnancy cohort, we tested both potentially co-occurring phenomena. First, we tested the potential bidirectional effects of mother and child depressive symptoms across four waves of data during the middle childhood period. Second, we tested whether child sex and family socioeconomic status moderated associations. Methods: This study was based on data from 1801 mothers and children from the All Our Families cohort from Calgary, Alberta. Maternal and child depression and demographic information was assessed through validated self-report measures of depressive symptoms at four timepoints (Time 1: Spring 2020, child age 9.66 years; Time 2: Spring 2021, child age 10.40 years; Time 3: Fall-Winter 2021-2022, child age 11.08 years, and Time 4: Winter 2023, child age 12.82 years). Child sex and family socioeconomic status was reported by mothers at Time 1. Results: Results of a random-intercept cross-lagged panel analysis revealed that child depression at Time 1 predicted higher maternal depression at Time 2 (β = .12; 95% CI .02, .22). Additionally, child depression at Time 2 predicted higher maternal depression at Time 3 (β = .17; 95% CI .07, .26). The obverse association was not supported. Child sex and family socioeconomic status did not moderate associations. Conclusions: Contrary to conventional theorizing, we found evidence for child-evocative effects but not maternal spillover effects of depressive symptoms. Our study sheds light on the nuances of how depression potentially develops within families and challenges conventional theorizing of a unidirectional spillover from caregiver to child depression. It establishes a framework for future research to incorporate bidirectional and potentially transactional relationships when considering depression transmission within families. Furthermore, it emphasizes the need to incorporate the complex dynamics of family interactions into prevention and intervention efforts.
dc.identifier.citation	Hewitt, J. (2024). Testing bidirectional effects between maternal and child depression during middle childhood (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/1880/119792
dc.language.iso	en
dc.publisher.faculty	Graduate Studies
dc.publisher.institution	University of Calgary
dc.rights	University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.subject	mother-child relationship
dc.subject	intergenerational transmission of depression
dc.subject	child evocative effects
dc.subject	developmental psychopathology
dc.subject	maternal depression
dc.subject	child depression
dc.subject.classification	Psychology--Clinical
dc.subject.classification	Psychology--Developmental
dc.title	Testing Bidirectional Effects between Maternal and Child Depression During Middle Childhood
dc.type	master thesis
thesis.degree.discipline	Psychology – Clinical
thesis.degree.grantor	University of Calgary
thesis.degree.name	Master of Science (MSc)
ucalgary.thesis.accesssetbystudent	I do not require a thesis withhold – my thesis will have open access and can be viewed and downloaded publicly as soon as possible.