Maternal Lifetime Depressive/Anxiety Disorders and Children's Internalizing Symptoms: The Importance of Family Context.

OBJECTIVES This study investigated the interaction effects between mothers' lifetime depressive/anxiety disorders and other psychosocial correlates of 6 to 11 year-old children's self-reported internalizing symptoms in the Quebec Child Mental Health Survey. METHOD A representative subsample of 1,490 Quebec children aged 6 to 11 years was selected from the original sample. Multiple linear regression analyses were performed using children's internalizing symptoms and child, family and socioeconomic characteristics. RESULTS Four variables interacted significantly with mothers' lifetime depressive/anxiety disorders to predict 6 to 11 year-old children's internalizing symptoms: child age (t=2.415, P=0.016), mother's caring behaviours (t=2.950, P=0.003), mother's punitive behaviours (t=2.629, P=0.009) and parental social support (t=2.272, P=0.023). CONCLUSION Results highlight the important contribution of the family context to the intergenerational transmission of internalizing symptoms and the relevance of taking into account children's developmental period. They support the importance of early screening of children's self-reported internalizing symptoms, among children of depressed/anxious parents. It is suggested to develop preventive intervention programs oriented towards children of depressed/anxious parents and exposed to relational difficulties.