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.

The Influence of Parental Anxious Rearing on Child Depression: The Moderating Effect of Self-Competence

This study explored the relationship between parental anxiety and depression in children, and studied the moderating role of children’s self-competence. Through a series of research tools, the anxious rearing, children’s depression and children’s self-competence are studied respectively. The results show that anxious rearing can significantly predict children’s depression, and self-competence can alleviate this effect.

The Influence of Parental Rejection Style on Children’s Depression: The Moderating Role of Teacher Support

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between parental rejection and childhood depression and the moderating role of teacher support in this relationship. EMBU-C, CES-D10, PSSS and other tools were used to measure parental rearing style, children’s depression mood and perceptive teacher support. The results showed that parental rejection style was positively correlated with children’s depression, and teacher support was negatively correlated with children’s depression. Teacher support acted as a buffer effect between parental rejection and children’s depression.

Mothers’ and Children’s Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown: The Mediating Role of Parenting Stress

The present study, carried out during the first peak of the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy, aimed at investigating the mental health of mothers and children during the nationwide lockdown. More specifically, the study investigated children’s depression and mothers’ individual distress and parenting stress, in comparison with normative samples. The mediating effect of mothers’ parenting stress on the relationship between mothers’ individual distress and children’s depression was also explored. Finally, the study analyzed whether children’s biological sex and age moderated the structural paths of the proposed model. A sample of 206 Italian mothers and their children completed an online survey. Mothers were administered self-report questionnaires investigating individual distress and parenting stress; children completed a standardized measure of depression. Mothers’ individual distress and parenting stress and children’s depression were higher than those recorded for the normative samples. Mothers’ parenting stress was found to mediate the association between mothers’ individual distress and children’s depression. With respect to children, neither biological sex nor age emerged as significant moderators of this association, highlighting that the proposed model was robust and invariant. During the current and future pandemics, public health services should support parents—and particularly mothers—in reducing individual distress and parenting stress, as these are associated with children’s depression.

Do we care about eating problems sufficiently in adolescent Type 1 Diabetes?

Background Eating problems have been shown to be common in adolescents with T1DM. We aimed to examine the association of eating problems with emotional problems, behavioral attitudes towards treatment and diet adherence. Method: The study was conducted with 132 participants, of them 72 were with T1DM (T1DM group) and 60 were healthy controls group. Participants were evaluated using a data form and self-report scales which were Children's Depression Scale (CDI), Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders (SCARED) and the Eating Attitude Test (EAT). Results Rates of having significant scores for CDI, SCARED and EAT in the T1DM group (52.8%, 36.1%, 30.6%, respectively) were higher than control group (21.7%, 8.3%, 3.4,) (p < 0.01). Patients with separate parents, lower parental education, irregular outpatient follow-up, hospitalization in the previous 3 months, diabetes complications and history of refusing insulin injections had higher rates of having significant scores for CDI and/or SCARED (p < 0.05). Having significant scores for EAT was related to person who makes the insulin injections (p < 0.05) and the child's diet adherence (p < 0.01). There was a positive correlation between EAT and CDI scores (r = 0.309; p = 0.008; p < 0.01). Conclusion Adolescents with T1DM have an increased risk of eating and emotional problems. Increasing age, low parental educational level, not taking the responsibility of insulin treatment, strict adherence to diabetic diet and depressive symptomatology were associated with increased risk for eating problems. Identifing the risky cases for eating problems will improve the clinical outcome. Level of Evidence: Level II, Prospective Cross-sectional Clinical Study

Emotion perception and theory of mind in adolescents with major depression

Background: The research of theory of mind (ToM) and emotion perception (EP) in adolescents with major depressive disorder (MDD) is scarce, and no study to date has investigated the association between EP and long-term outcomes of adolescents with MDD. The aim of the current study was to evaluate ToM and EP in adolescents with MDD, as compared to healthy controls (HCs). In addition, we aimed to assess the association between impairment in ToM and EP, depressive symptom severity, and long-term outcome in the MDD group. Methods: We compared the performance of 14 adolescents with MDD and 25 HC in the Facial Expression Recognition Task (FERT) and the Interpersonal Perception Task. We followed up with the MDD group 2 years later to assess the level of their depressive symptoms using the Children’s Depression Rating Scale–Revised (CDRS-R). Results: No differences were found between adolescents with MDD and HC in the ToM and FERT tasks. Also, within the MDD group, there was no association between the severity of depressive symptoms and task performance. In the MDD group, there was a significant correlation between lower levels of accuracy in the FERT during the index depressive episode and lower CDRS-R scores on follow-up 2 years later (r2 = 0.35, p = 0.021). Conclusions: EP impairments in adolescents with MDD might predict worse long-term outcome. Further research is needed to verify our findings and to assess for a possible neurobiological underpinning for the state and trait impairments in EP in adolescents with MDD.

Parental Beliefs and Actual Use of Corporal Punishment, School Violence and Bullying, and Depression in Early Adolescence

Prior studies on adverse outcomes of parental corporal punishment on children have focused on examining one of two broad domains of parental corporal punishment: parental beliefs or actual use. Recently, researchers have argued that parental belief and actual use of corporal punishment should work jointly to contribute to children’s depression and involvement in school violence. Yet, studies supporting this proposition are lacking. This study examined the indirect link from parental attitudes towards corporal punishment to children’s depression and school violence involvement through actual use of corporal punishment. Four hundred and thirty-three elementary school students and their parents in Taiwan participated in this study. The results indicate that positive parental attitudes towards corporal punishment do not predict children’s depression and involvement in school violence. However, parental attitudes towards corporal punishment had significant indirect relationships with depression and involvement in school violence through the actual use of corporal punishment. These findings applied to both genders. This study supports the proposition that parental attitudes and the actual use of corporal punishment could work together to predict children’s depression and school violence. Future intervention programs for decreasing children’s depressive symptoms and involvement in school violence might need to tackle corporal punishment in the family.

Maternal Economic Well-Being and Mental Health among Young Adult Children: Race/Ethnicity

This study aimed to examine the relationship between maternal economic well-being and children’s mental health outcomes in adulthood and to consider the moderating effect of race/ethnicity. This study used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 79 for Children and Young Adults. The two datasets were merged, and 4224 pairs were selected for the final sample. Ordinary linear regression and logistic regression analyses were used. Poverty and lower net worth among mothers were positively associated with their children’s depression in young adulthood. Race/ethnicity moderated the relationship between maternal poverty and children’s depression. Therefore, women’s economic resources may be an important factor in the development of mental health issues among their children in young adulthood. Developing anti-poverty policies that target women may assist in reducing depressive symptoms in their children once they reach young adulthood, specifically for non-Hispanic White children.