A Longitudinal Study of the Relation Between Depressive Symptomatology and Parenting Practices.

This longitudinal study examined whether mothers' depressive symptomatology predicted parenting practices in a sample of 199 mothers of 3-year-old children with behavior problems who were assessed yearly until age 6. Higher maternal depressive symptoms were associated with higher overreactivity and laxness and lower warmth when children were 6 years old. Higher maternal depressive symptoms were also related to increases in overreactivity across the preschool years. Moreover, depression and parenting practices (overreactivity and laxness) covaried over time within mothers. These results provide evidence of a strong link between maternal depression and parenting during the preschool years.