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Jen Jen Chang, PhD; Carolyn T. Halpern, PhD; Jay S. Kaufman, PhD

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2007;161(7):697-703.

Objective  To examine the effect of maternal depressive symptoms on child problem behavior trajectories and how the father's positive involvement may modify this association.

Design  Secondary data analysis using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth.

Setting  A nationally representative household sample of men and women from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth.

Participants  The study sample includes 6552 mother-child dyads interviewed biennially between January 1, 1992, and December 31, 2002; children were 0 to 10 years old at baseline.

Intervention  Past-week maternal depressive symptoms in 1992.

Main Outcome Measures  Maternal self-reports of child internalizing and externalizing behaviors were assessed repeatedly using a modified Child Behavior Checklist.

Results  Linear growth curve models indicate that the adverse effects of maternal depressive symptoms on child problem behavior trajectories become negligible after controlling for the father's involvement and other covariates, including the child's age, sex, and race/ethnicity; the mother's educational level; maternal age at child birth; number of children; poverty status; urban residence; and father’s residential status. Positive involvement by the father was inversely associated with child problem behavior trajectories. The effects of maternal depressive symptoms on child problem behaviors varied by the level of the father's positive involvement.

Conclusion  When the father actively compensates for limitations in the depressed mother's functioning, the child's risk of problem behaviors may be reduced.

Author Affiliations: Department of Community Health in Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Saint Louis University, St Louis, Missouri (Dr Chang); and Departments of Maternal and Child Health (Drs Chang and Halpern) and Epidemiology (Dr Kaufman), School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

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