parental depression and child behaviour problems prof judy hutchings, dr tracey bywater, margiad...
TRANSCRIPT
Parental Depression and Child Behaviour ProblemsProf Judy Hutchings, Dr Tracey Bywater, Margiad Elen
Williams, B.Sc, & Chris Whitaker, M.Sc, C. Stat
Background: Well-established relationship between maternal depression and child conduct problems. Key deficits of observation and problem-solving skills found among depressed populations and parents of children with conduct problems. Vast amount of literature showing that some parenting programmes, particularly those that focus on teaching observation skills and use role-play/rehearsal, are effective in reducing both childhood conduct problems and maternal depression. Aim of paper: To provide further analyses of a previous study (Hutchings et al., 2007) to explore whether improvement in depression plays a mediating role with improvements in child behaviour.
Hutchings et al. (2007) study
Objective
• To evaluate the effectiveness of the Incredible Years Basic Parent Programme as a preventive intervention with parents of children at- risk for developing conduct disorder.
Design
• Randomised Controlled Trial• Eleven Sure Start areas across North & Mid-Wales • Follow-up six-months after intervention• 153 families: 104 intervention & 49 control
Outcome Measures
Eyberg Child Behaviour Inventory (ECBI)Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)Arnold-O’Leary Parenting ScaleDyadic Parent-Child Interaction Coding System (DPICS)
Current study
Question examined: Does change in maternal depression mediate change in child conduct problem outcome?
Sample
• N=133 with both pre- and post-data • 86 intervention & 47 controls
Mediation analyses
• IV: Intervention status (Intervention vs. Control)• MV: Change in maternal depression• DV: Several different measures entered e.g. ECBI Problem scale, Arnold-O’Leary total score, three DPICS categories.• In order to get a mediation effect, all three variables must correlate with each other.
Baseline Follow-up8
10
12
14
16
18
20
Intervention BDIControl BDI
cut-off 18-20
Figure 1. Reduction in parental depression
Baseline Follow-up8
10
12
14
16
18
Intervention ECBIControl ECBI
cut-off 11
Figure 2. Reduction in child behaviour problems
Results
• Only three of the tested DV’s correlated with both the IV and MV therefore only these were tested for mediation.• Both ECBI problem scale and Arnold-O’Leary parenting scale are significantly mediated by change in maternal depression (BDI).• Positive parenting behaviour was not significantly mediated by change in maternal depression (BDI).
Intervention status (N)
Measure (cut-off) Baseline Follow-up Significance
level (p)
Intervention (n=86)
BDI 41 (48%) 17 (20%) <.001
ECBI Problem scale 74 (86%) 33 (38%) <.001
Control (n=47)
BDI 16 (34%) 11 (23%) .096 (n.s.)
ECBI Problem scale 35 (72%) 31 (66%) .323 (n.s.)
Measure Sobel value Significance level (p)
ECBI Problem scale -2.525 .012
Arnold-O’Leary parenting scale 2.665 .008
Positive parenting behaviour (obs) 1.320 .187
Table 1. Number of participants above clinical cut-off levels pre- and post-intervention
Table 2. Results of mediation analysis
Findings & Conclusions
• Change in parental depression was a partial mediator of change in child behaviour outcomes using the ECBI (problem scale).• There were significant improvements in both parent-report of child behaviour and observed parenting for both non-depressed and depressed parents. • Observed positive parenting correlated significantly with improved depression scores. Therefore, we can be confident that it was not change in parental reporting accuracy that contributed to this finding.
For more information, contact Prof Judy Hutchings, Nantlle Building, Normal Site, Bangor University, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2PZ or tel: 01248 383758 or email: [email protected]