ERIC Number: EJ908357
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008-Jun
Pages: 26
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1522-7227
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Early Manifestations of Childhood Depression: Influences of Infant Temperament and Parental Depressive Symptoms
Gartstein, Maria A.; Bateman, Alison E.
Infant and Child Development, v17 n3 p223-248 Jun 2008
In this longitudinal study, 83 parents of infants between 3 and 12 months completed questionnaires assessing demographic information, infant temperament, and maternal depression. When these children were at least 18 months of age, parents completed follow-up questionnaires assessing toddler temperament and depression-like symptoms. We were primarily interested in the contributions of infant temperament and maternal depression to toddler depressive problems, and the analytic strategy involved controlling for toddler temperament in order to isolate the influence of infancy characteristics. The findings indicated that lower levels of infant regulatory capacity and greater severity of maternal depression were predictive of toddler depression-like symptoms. Moderator effects of infant temperament were also examined, with the negative affectivity * maternal depression interaction emerging as significant. Follow-up analyses indicated that the risk for early manifestations of depression was attenuated for children with lower negative affectivity in infancy and parents who reported lower levels of their own depressive symptoms; conversely, children exhibiting higher infant negative emotionality had higher levels of depression-like symptoms as toddlers, regardless of their parents' level of depression. The present findings further suggest that parental depressive symptoms need not be "clinically significant" to predict toddler affective problems. (Contains 1 figure and 4 tables.)
Descriptors: Toddlers, Infants, Personality Traits, Parents, Parent Influence, Symptoms (Individual Disorders), Longitudinal Studies, Questionnaires, Mothers, Severity (of Disability), Depression (Psychology), Child Health, Mental Health, Affective Behavior
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: California
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Child Behavior Checklist; Rothbart Infant Behavior Questionnaire
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A