Browsing by Author "Hewitt, Jackson"

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    Testing Bidirectional Effects between Maternal and Child Depression During Middle Childhood
    (2024-09-18) Hewitt, Jackson; Madigan, Sheri; McArthur, Brae Anne; Yeates, Keith; Birnie, Kathryn; Kopala Sibley, Daniel
    Background: To date, the understanding of depression within families has primarily focused on a single direction, from parents to children. Extensive research has focused on this perspective, leading to the development of various hypotheses, such as the spillover hypothesis and the intergenerational transmission of depression. These unidirectional hypotheses suggest that parent depression influences the development of child depression. More recently, a new hypothesis has emerged – child evocative effects. This hypothesis proposes that there are more bidirectional and dynamic interactions within the family unit, wherein children can also influence parents’ depression. Objectives: Using a prospective pregnancy cohort, we tested both potentially co-occurring phenomena. First, we tested the potential bidirectional effects of mother and child depressive symptoms across four waves of data during the middle childhood period. Second, we tested whether child sex and family socioeconomic status moderated associations. Methods: This study was based on data from 1801 mothers and children from the All Our Families cohort from Calgary, Alberta. Maternal and child depression and demographic information was assessed through validated self-report measures of depressive symptoms at four timepoints (Time 1: Spring 2020, child age 9.66 years; Time 2: Spring 2021, child age 10.40 years; Time 3: Fall-Winter 2021-2022, child age 11.08 years, and Time 4: Winter 2023, child age 12.82 years). Child sex and family socioeconomic status was reported by mothers at Time 1. Results: Results of a random-intercept cross-lagged panel analysis revealed that child depression at Time 1 predicted higher maternal depression at Time 2 (β = .12; 95% CI .02, .22). Additionally, child depression at Time 2 predicted higher maternal depression at Time 3 (β = .17; 95% CI .07, .26). The obverse association was not supported. Child sex and family socioeconomic status did not moderate associations. Conclusions: Contrary to conventional theorizing, we found evidence for child-evocative effects but not maternal spillover effects of depressive symptoms. Our study sheds light on the nuances of how depression potentially develops within families and challenges conventional theorizing of a unidirectional spillover from caregiver to child depression. It establishes a framework for future research to incorporate bidirectional and potentially transactional relationships when considering depression transmission within families. Furthermore, it emphasizes the need to incorporate the complex dynamics of family interactions into prevention and intervention efforts.