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Depressed mothers as informants on child behavior: Methodological issues
Author(s) -
Ordway Monica Roosa
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
research in nursing and health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1098-240X
pISSN - 0160-6891
DOI - 10.1002/nur.20463
Subject(s) - psychology , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , depression (economics) , macroeconomics , economics
Abstract Mothers with depressive symptoms more frequently report behavioral problems among their children than non‐depressed mothers leading to a debate regarding the accuracy of depressed mothers as informants of children's behavior. The purpose of this integrative review was to identify methodological challenges in research related to the debate. Data were extracted from 43 articles (6 theoretical, 36 research reports, and 1 instrument scoring manual). The analysis focused on the methodologies considered when using depressed mothers as informants. Nine key themes were identified and I concluded that researchers should incorporate multiple informants, identify the characteristics of maternal depression, and incorporate advanced statistical methodology. The use of a conceptual framework to understand informant discrepancies within child behavior evaluations is suggested for future research. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Res Nurs Health 34:520–532, 2011