Effects of interparental conflict on children's depression in the context of COVID-19: Does parent-child conflict play a role?

Associations Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Prenatal Mental Health in the French EDEN Cohort: Cumulative, Person-Centered, and Dimensional Approaches

Background: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) may negatively affect prenatal mental health. However, the use of a cumulative ACEs score may obscure the identification of which specific types of adversity are most strongly associated with unfavorable mental health outcomes. Aim: This study aims to evaluate the association between ACEs and prenatal symptoms of depression and anxiety using a cumulative score, a person-centered approach, and the dimensional model of adversity and psychopathology (DMAP). Methods: Data were collected from 1887 pregnant women in the French Etude des Déterminants du développement et de la santé de l'ENfant (EDEN) cohort. To operationalize our exposure, we calculated a cumulative ACE score, threat and deprivation scores, and conducted latent class analysis (LCA). Depressive and anxious symptoms were assessed with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory state subscale (STAI-S) questionnaires, using cutoffs of 16 and 38 indicating high symptoms. Participants were categorized into four outcome groups: (1) no symptoms, (2) high depressive symptoms only, (3) high anxious symptoms only, and (4) comorbid high symptoms. Multinomial regressions were performed. Results: LCA identified three ACE classes: low-risk, family discordance, and multidimensional adversity. Women reporting two or more ACEs had higher odds of depressive and comorbid symptoms, compared to those with zero ACEs. Compared to the low-risk class, women in the family discordance class had increased odds of high depressive symptoms (adjusted odds ratios [aOR] 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.80 [1.33, 2.56]) and comorbid high symptoms (aOR [95% CI] = 2.04 [1.43, 2.89]). Threat experiences were significantly linked to high depressive symptoms (aOR [95% CI] = 1.48 [1.22, 1.79]) and comorbid high symptoms (aOR [95% CI] = 1.53 [1.25, 1.87]). Conclusion: Using the DMAP and LCA approaches, we found that ACEs related to the familial environment and relationships during childhood were most strongly associated with prenatal high depressive and comorbid symptoms. This highlights the importance of operationalizing ACEs beyond a cumulative score to better capture their role in the development of prenatal mental health difficulties.

The effect of parental psychological flexibility on children's behavioral problems: a moderated mediation model

BACKGROUND

Building upon previous research suggesting that parental psychological flexibility is negatively associate with children's behavioral problems, this study examined a moderated mediation model to explore the effect of parental psychological flexibility on children's internalizing and externalizing problems. Specifically, parent-child conflict is considered as a mediator while parental phubbing is examined as a moderator.

METHODS

This study employed a cross-sectional design, with a total of 1060 parents of preschool-aged children participating. The parents completed a series of surveys, including the Parental Psychological Flexibility Questionnaire, the short form of the Child-Parent Relationship Scale, the Parental Phubbing Scale, and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire regarding their children. The moderated mediation model was assessed using SPSS PROCESS 4.1.

RESULTS

The results indicated that parental psychological flexibility negatively predicted children's behavioral problems through the mediating effect of parent-child conflict, with this relationship being moderated by parental phubbing; an increase in phubbing weakened the negative correlation between parental psychological flexibility and parent-child conflict, thereby further weakened the negative correlation between parental psychological flexibility and children's behavioral problems.

CONCLUSION

These findings offer potential strategies for parents to mitigate the risk of their children developing internalizing or externalizing problems, by enhancing parental psychological flexibility and reducing instances of phubbing behavior.

Transmission of depressive symptoms in the nuclear family: a cross-sectional and cross-lagged network perspective

Children are more likely to develop depressive symptoms in families where parents have depressive symptoms. By conceptualizing the individual depressive symptom network of each family member as a whole, this study proposes a family symptom network model, and explored the mechanisms of transmission of depression within nuclear families at the symptom level. This study used four waves (2012, 2016, 2018, 2020) of data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), which in wave one contained a representative sample of 1963 children (1038 boys; age = 12.60), 4763 mothers and 4614 fathers from China. Children with their parents completed the Center for Epidemiology Studies Depression Scale at each wave. Individual depressive symptom networks among children, fathers, and mothers were highly similar and stable across time. When considering depressive symptoms of all family members as a whole, there was a wide range of associations between child, father, and mother depressive symptom networks. The results of the cross-lagged network model suggest the bidirectional relationships between couples and parent-child depression. The current study provides preliminary validation of the family symptom network model. The model represents a further integration and extension of network theory of mental disorders and family systems theory, and points out the limitations of studying the intergenerational transmission of depression from a latent variable perspective. Thus, the family symptom network model proposed in this study could provide valuable new insights into understanding the intergenerational transmission of depression.