Profile of Parent-Child Well-Being in Immigrant Families

Earlier caregiving research focused on psychological well-being of either caregivers or care recipients, while less is known about the caregiving pattern with optimal outcome for both caregivers and care recipients. Data were from the PINE and PIETY studies, with 804 parent-child dyads. Depressive symptoms were measured by PHQ-9 with a cutoff of 5 distinguishing happy or depressed. Parent-child dyads were divided into four groups: happy-parent-happy-child (HPHC, n=572, 71.1%), depressed-parent-happy-child (DPHC, n=139, 17.3%), happy-parent-depressed-child (HPDC, n=65, 8.1%), and depressed-parent-depressed-child (DPDC, n=28, 3.5%). Multinomial logistic regression was used to compare the sociodemographic differences among the groups. Compared to the HPHC group, the DPHC group had older parents, more mother-child dyads and lower-income children, the HPDC group had more female children. However, there was no significant difference between the HPHC and the DPDC group. Future research could explore the predictors of parent-child well-being to inform intervention strategies.

The association of different parenting styles among depressed parents and their offspring’s depression and anxiety: a cross-sectional study

Background Parenting styles play a critical role in children’s development, especially for those in families with a depressed parent. To date, no study has explored whether youth perceptions of parenting style are heterogeneous in families with a depressed parent or whether heterogeneous parenting styles are associated with children’s internalizing symptoms. Methods Participants were children aged 8–16 years who had a parent with major depressive disorder; they were enrolled through their parents, who were outpatients at two hospitals in Ningxia. Parenting styles were measured using the Parental Bonding Instrument. Youth depression and anxiety were measured using the Depression Self-Rating Scale for Children and the Screen for Child Anxiety-Related Emotional Disorders, respectively. We applied latent profile analysis to identify the subtypes of parenting styles with similar patterns. Differences between subtypes in relation to demographic variables and parenting style scores were calculated using one-way ANOVAs, Wilcoxon rank sum tests, and chi-squared tests. Bivariate logistic analyses were conducted to examine the associations between parental bonding subtypes and children’s depression and anxiety. Results Four parenting styles were identified through latent profile analysis: care-autonomy, overprotection-indifference, indifference, and undifferentiated parenting. Youth with care-autonomy parents had a lower risk of depression (OR: 0.16; 95% CI: 0.06–0.41) and anxiety (OR: 0.22; 95% CI: 0.10–0.48), while indifference parenting increased children’s risk of depression (OR: 5.29; 95% CI: 1.30–21.54) more than undifferentiated parenting. Conclusions Children with a depressed parent had heterogeneous perceptions of parenting styles. Mothers’ and fathers’ parenting styles were largely congruent. Care-autonomy parenting (high care and high autonomy) may decrease children’s risk of depression, whereas indifference parenting (low care and autonomy) may increase their risk of depression.

Concordance in parent and offspring cortico-basal ganglia white matter connectivity varies by parental history of major depressive disorder and early parental care

Social behavior is transmitted cross-generationally through coordinated behavior within attachment bonds. Parental depression and poor parental care are major risks for disruptions of such coordination and are associated with offspring’s psychopathology and interpersonal dysfunction. Given the key role of the cortico-basal ganglia (CBG) circuits in social communication, we examined similarities (concordance) of parent–offspring CBG white matter (WM) connections and how parental history of major depressive disorder (MDD) and early parental care moderate these similarities. We imaged 44 parent–offspring dyads and investigated WM connections between basal-ganglia seeds and selected regions in temporal cortex using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) tractography. We found significant concordance in parent–offspring strength of CBG WM connections, moderated by parental lifetime-MDD and care. The results showed diminished neural concordance among dyads with a depressed parent and that better parental care predicted greater concordance, which also provided a protective buffer against attenuated concordance among dyads with a depressed parent. Our findings provide the first neurobiological evidence of concordance between parents-offspring in WM tracts and that concordance is diminished in families where parents have lifetime-MDD. This disruption may be a risk factor for intergenerational transmission of psychopathology. Findings emphasize the long-term role of early caregiving in shaping the neural concordance among at-risk and affected dyads.

Increasing Understanding in Children of Depressed Parents: Predictors and Moderators of Intervention Response

We evaluated predictors and moderators of differential response to two family-based depression prevention programs for families with a depressed parent: a clinician-facilitated intervention and a lecture group intervention. Individual and family level variables were examined using regression analyses with generalized estimating equations. For the outcome of child understanding of depression, parental changes in child-related behaviors and attitudes predicted greater child understanding (p<0.001). For the parent outcome of behavior and attitude change, across intervention conditions, younger parent age (p<0.05), female parent gender (p<0.01), more chronic and severe parental depression history (p<0.05), lower SES (p<0.05), and single-parent status (p<0.05) were associated with better outcomes across conditions. Effect sizes were moderate, ranging from 0.4 to 0.7 SD. Family and marital functioning were not found to be predictors of any outcomes. When both parents were depressed at baseline, there was no difference in the clinician- versus lecture-based approach, and when only the father was depressed, families reported more changes with the clinician condition than with the lecture condition (p<0.05). Findings from this study can help identify intervention strategies that are appropriate for different types of at-risk individuals and families.