The Effects of Maternal Depression on Executive Function Difficulties of 3rd-grade Children: The Mediation of the Home Environment

Purpose – Home visiting is a strategy widely implemented to support families following the birth of a baby. There is a broad consensus that home visiting programmes are successful. But there is little understanding of factors moderating this success. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between maternal involvement in a nurse home visiting programme, maternal depression, and adjustment to the parenting role. Design/methodology/approach – A retrospective design was employed in which the medical records of 40 mothers who had been enroled in a nurse home visiting programme were examined. The number of nurse home visits from birth to six months, maternal depressive symptoms, Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) and responsivity scores were examined. Mothers had been selected for the programme if they had a history of mental illness, were in a violent relationship, or reported drug or alcohol problems. Findings – A significant, positive relationship was found between maternal involvement, positive HOME environment and maternal responsivity scores. Furthermore, the mothers with the highest scores for HOME environment and responsivity to their infant ' s cues at six months were mothers experiencing deteriorating symptoms of depression. These mothers had the highest levels of involvement with the programme. Despite their mothers’ deteriorating mental health, infants whose mothers received the greatest number of visits from a nurse received the greatest benefit ameliorating their risk for developing poor attachment and impaired behavioural, emotional and cognitive development. Originality/value – This is the first study to examine the relationship between changes in maternal depression and programme outcomes in a home visiting programme. It is one of the first explorations of the relationship between maternal involvement and programme outcomes in a targeted nurse home visiting programme to prevent child maltreatment. The findings from this study are critical to future home visiting programme development and evaluation.

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Do Parenting and the Home Environment, Maternal Depression, Neighborhood, and Chronic Poverty Affect Child Behavioral Problems Differently in Different Racial-Ethnic Groups?

PEDIATRICS ◽

10.1542/peds.2005-1784 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 117 (4) ◽

pp. 1329-1338 ◽

Cited By ~ 101

Author(s):

L. M. Pachter

Keyword(s):

Maternal Depression ◽

Ethnic Groups ◽

Home Environment ◽

Behavioral Problems ◽

Chronic Poverty ◽

Child Behavioral Problems ◽

Racial Ethnic

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MATERNAL DEPRESSION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF EXECUTIVE FUNCTION AND BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS IN HEAD START: INDIRECT EFFECTS THROUGH PARENTING

Infant Mental Health Journal ◽

10.1002/imhj.21698 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 39 (2) ◽

pp. 134-144 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Claire E. Baker

Keyword(s):

Executive Function ◽

Head Start ◽

Behavior Problems ◽

Maternal Depression ◽

Indirect Effects ◽

And Behavior

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Selected factors related to behavior control by executive function in Thai preschool children with epilepsy

Journal of Health Research ◽

10.1108/jhr-12-2020-0602 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Pawanrat Panjatharakul ◽

Rutja Phuphaibul ◽

Suporn Wongvatunyu ◽

Anannit Visudtibhan

Keyword(s):

Executive Function ◽

Preschool Children ◽

Home Environment ◽

Seizure Frequency ◽

Medical Information ◽

Family Income ◽

Behavioral Control ◽

Behavior Control ◽

Seizure Onset ◽

Content Type

PurposeThis descriptive correlational study describes behavior control by executive function (EF) and explores the relationship among age at seizure onset, duration of epilepsy, seizure frequency, number of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), family income, the caregiver's education, home environment and behavior control by EF in preschool children with epilepsy.Design/methodology/approachThe purposive sample was 69 caregivers of preschool children with epilepsy. Data were collected in two medical centers in Bangkok from June 2019 to February 2020. The research instruments constituted: (1) a sociodemographic and medical information form for children with epilepsy and the caregiver; (2) early childhood-home observation for the measurement of the environment (EC-HOME) inventory and (3) the behavior rating inventory of executive function-preschool version® (BRIEF-P). The data were analyzed using Pearson's product-moment correlation and Spearman's Rho correlation.FindingsMost of the participants had quite high scores on home environment (mean = 44.35) and mildly elevated levels of EF deficit (mean = 61.04). The duration of epilepsy and the number of AEDs were positively correlated with behavior control by EF. Family income was negatively associated with behavior control by EF. However, age at seizure onset, seizure frequency, the caregiver's education and home environment had no association with behavior control by EF.Originality/valuePreschool children with epilepsy have poor behavioral control by EF. Consequently, healthcare providers should promote interventions in children to control seizures and to decrease the factors that impact the development of EF.

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The effects of paternal warmth on school adjustment of school-aged children: The mediation of home environment and executive function difficulties

Korean Association For Learner-Centered Curriculum And Instruction ◽

10.22251/jlcci.2021.21.17.855 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (17) ◽

pp. 855-870

Author(s):

Hyun Joo Lim ◽

Young Eun Chang

Keyword(s):

Executive Function ◽

Home Environment ◽

School Adjustment ◽

School Aged Children

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Independence and interplay between maternal and child risk factors for preschool problem behaviors?

International Journal of Behavioral Development ◽

10.1177/0165025408101274 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 33 (4) ◽

pp. 312-322 ◽

Cited By ~ 34

Author(s):

Claire Hughes ◽

Rosie Ensor

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Executive Function ◽

Maternal Depression ◽

Problem Behaviors ◽

Maternal Education ◽

Executive Dysfunction ◽

Emotion Understanding ◽

Maternal Risk ◽

Child Problem Behavior ◽

The Relationship

This study examined the independence and interplay between cognitive risk factors (poor executive function/emotion understanding) and maternal risk factors (low education/high depression) for preschool problem behaviors, indexed by multi-measure, multi-informant (mother/teacher/ researcher) ratings. A socio-economically diverse sample of 235 children (131 boys, 104 girls; mean age = 4.25 years) completed five executive-function tasks and four emotion-understanding tasks. Controlling for effects of gender, verbal ability and maternal education, individual differences in child problem behavior scores showed significant independent associations with executive dysfunction, emotion understanding and maternal depression. For girls, low maternal education amplified the relationship between executive dysfunction and problem behaviors. In addition, executive dysfunction mediated the relationship between maternal depression and problem behaviors; both executive dysfunction and poor emotion understanding mediated the relationship between low maternal education and problem behaviors. These results demonstrate the cumulative and complex nature of risk for preschool problem behaviors.

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The Negative Impact of Noise on Adolescents’ Executive Function: An Online Study in the Context of Home-Learning During a Pandemic

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.715301 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Brittney Chere ◽

Natasha Kirkham

Keyword(s):

Executive Function ◽

Task Performance ◽

Home Environment ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Digit Span ◽

Wisconsin Card Sorting Test ◽

Ample Evidence ◽

Home Learning ◽

Older Adolescents ◽

And Task

UNICEF estimates that 1.6 billion children across the world have had their education impacted by COVID-19 and have attempted to continue their learning at home. With ample evidence showing a negative impact of noise on academic achievement within schools, the current pre-registered study set out to determine what aspects of the home environment might be affecting these students. Adolescents aged 11–18 took part online, with 129 adolescents included after passing a headphone screening task. They filled out a sociodemographic questionnaire, followed by a home environment and noise questionnaire. Participants then completed three executive function tasks (the Flanker, the Backward Digit Span, and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test) while listening to a soundtrack of either white noise or home-like environmental noise. For purposes of analysis, based on the noise questionnaire, participants were separated into quieter and noisier homes. Results revealed that measures of the home environment significantly correlated with individual perceptions of noise and task performance. In particular, adolescents coming from noisier homes were more likely to report that they studied in a noisy room and that they were annoyed by noise when studying. In terms of noise and task performance, the Flanker task revealed that while older adolescents were more efficient overall than their younger peers, those older adolescents from noisier homes seemed to lose this advantage. Additionally, reaction times for younger adolescents from noisier homes were less impacted by accuracy compared to their peers from quieter homes, though there was no difference for the older adolescents. This evidence suggests that higher in-home noise levels lead to higher rates of annoyance and may be hindering home-learning, with both younger and older adolescents being impacted. Furthermore, the long-term effect of in-home noise on adolescent executive function task performance indicates that these findings transcend the pandemic and would influence in-school learning. Limitations and advantages of online adolescent research without researcher supervision are discussed, including sociodemographics and adapting tasks.

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