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Parental Depression, Overreactive Parenting, and Early Childhood Externalizing Problems: Moderation by Social Support
Author(s) -
Taraban Lindsay,
Shaw Daniel S.,
Leve Leslie D.,
Natsuaki Misaki N.,
Ganiban Jody M.,
Reiss David,
Neiderhiser Jenae M.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/cdev.13027
Subject(s) - psychology , moderation , developmental psychology , context (archaeology) , social support , depressive symptoms , association (psychology) , parenting styles , externalization , clinical psychology , child rearing , longitudinal study , psychiatry , anxiety , social psychology , medicine , paleontology , psychotherapist , biology , pathology
This study used a large ( N = 519), longitudinal sample of adoptive families to test overreactive parenting as a mediator of associations between parental depressive symptoms and early childhood externalizing, and parents’ social support satisfaction as a moderator. Maternal parenting (18 months) mediated the association between maternal depressive symptoms (9 months) and child externalizing problems (27 months). Paternal parenting was not a significant mediator. Unexpectedly, we found a cross‐over effect for the moderating role of social support satisfaction, such that partners’ social support satisfaction reduced the strength of the association between each parent's own depressive symptoms and overreactive parenting. Results point to the importance of accounting for broader family context in predicting early childhood parenting and child outcomes.