School of Psychology, Laval University, 2325 Des Bibliothèques, Quebec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada.
Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Res Child Adolesc Psychopathol. 2024 Aug;52(8):1261-1273. doi: 10.1007/s10802-024-01200-1. Epub 2024 May 3.
Parental depressive symptoms and sensitivity have well-documented consequences for children; however, studies considering both parents are still scarce. This longitudinal study aimed to investigate the respective roles of paternal and maternal depressive symptoms and sensitivity in predicting the development of child socioemotional problems during toddlerhood. We also investigated the buffering role of each parent's sensitivity in the associations between the other parent's depressive symptoms and toddlers' socioemotional problems. The sample consisted of 140 Canadian families who were visited in their homes when children were around 13 (T1), 19 (T2), and 27 (T3) months of age. At T1, both parents' sensitivity was assessed from observations of parent-child interactions at home and each parent reported on his or her own depressive symptoms. At T1, T2, and T3, maternal and paternal perceptions of their toddler's socioemotional problems were assessed and aggregated. Growth curve analyses revealed that paternal and maternal depressive symptoms as well as paternal sensitivity were unique and persistent predictors of child socioemotional problems and that sensitive fathering acted as a buffer in the context of maternal depressive symptoms. This study highlights the importance of considering both parents when studying risk and protective factors for young children's socioemotional problems.
父母的抑郁症状和敏感性对儿童有很好的记录后果；然而，考虑到父母双方的研究仍然很少。这项纵向研究旨在探讨父亲和母亲的抑郁症状和敏感性在预测幼儿期儿童社会情感问题发展方面的各自作用。我们还研究了每个父母的敏感性在另一个父母的抑郁症状与幼儿社会情感问题之间的关系中的缓冲作用。该样本由 140 个加拿大家庭组成，当孩子大约 13 岁（T1）、19 岁（T2）和 27 岁（T3）时，在他们的家中进行了访问。在 T1 时，通过观察家庭中的亲子互动来评估父母双方的敏感性，并且每个父母都报告了自己的抑郁症状。在 T1、T2 和 T3 时，评估了母亲和父亲对其幼儿社会情感问题的感知，并进行了汇总。增长曲线分析表明，父亲和母亲的抑郁症状以及父亲的敏感性是儿童社会情感问题的独特和持久的预测因素，而敏感的育儿在母亲抑郁症状的背景下起到了缓冲作用。这项研究强调了在研究幼儿社会情感问题的风险和保护因素时，同时考虑父母双方的重要性。
