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The role of child gender, problem behaviors, and the family environment on maternal depressive symptoms: findings from mothers of substance abusing runaway adolescents
Author(s) -
Guo Xiamei,
Slesnick Natasha
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.585
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1520-6629
pISSN - 0090-4392
DOI - 10.1002/jcop.20471
Subject(s) - depressive symptoms , psychology , context (archaeology) , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , family conflict , psychiatry , cognition , paleontology , biology
This study examined the relation between maternal depressive symptoms and adolescents' problem behaviors, moderated by adolescent gender, as well as the association between maternal depressive symptoms and the family environment characteristics above and beyond child variables. Data were collected from 137 mothers of runaway adolescents with alcohol and/or substance abuse problems. Results showed that both internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors of adolescent girls, as opposed to problem behaviors of boys, were significantly associated with maternal depressive symptoms. In addition, higher family cohesion was significantly related to lower maternal depressive symptoms even after controlling for adolescent problem behaviors. However, no significant relationship was found between family conflict and maternal depressive symptoms. These findings indicate that both adolescents' problem behaviors and mothers' perceptions of the family environment are associated with maternal depressive symptoms, highlighting the potential utility of the family systems theoretical framework for understanding and intervening mothers' emotional problems in the family context. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.