Does Maternal Mental Health and Maternal Stress Affect Preschoolers' Behavioral Symptoms?

(1) Background: Maternal stress and depression are considered risk factors in children's socioemotional development, also showing high prevalence worldwide. (2) Method: Participants correspond to a longitudinal sample of 6335 mother/child pairs (18-72 months), who were surveyed in 2010 and then...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: María Pía Santelices (Author), Matías Irarrázaval (Author), Pamela Jervis (Author), Cristian Brotfeld (Author), Carla Cisterna (Author), Ana María Gallardo (Author)
Format: Book
Published: MDPI AG, 2021-09-01T00:00:00Z.
Subjects:
Online Access:Connect to this object online.
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:(1) Background: Maternal stress and depression are considered risk factors in children's socioemotional development, also showing high prevalence worldwide. (2) Method: Participants correspond to a longitudinal sample of 6335 mother/child pairs (18-72 months), who were surveyed in 2010 and then in 2012. The hypothesis was tested with SEM analysis, setting the child's internalized/externalized problems as dependent variable, maternal depression as independent variable, and stress as a partial mediator. (3) Results: Both depression during pregnancy and recent depression has not only a direct effect on the internalizing and externalizing symptomatology of the child, but also an indirect effect through parental stress. Significant direct and indirect relationships were found. (4) Conclusions: Maternal depression and the presence of parental stress can influence children's behavioral problems, both internalizing and externalizing.
Item Description:10.3390/children8090816
2227-9067