The Influence Of Parental Warmth And Punishment On The Development Trajectory Of Children's Depression

Depression is one of the most common psychological disorders.Children who experience depression are at significantly higher risk for experiencing internalizing and externalizing problems later in life.Considerable research has examined the effects of the quality of parent-children interactions and parenting style on child depression.However,few studies have investigated the different impact of maternal parenting and paternal parenting on children's depression,and also the moderating role of children's gender difference.To deeply explore the factors contributing to children's development of depression and provide individualized prevention and early intervention,it is necessary to distinguish the effect of maternal parenting and paternal parentingThe current study explored developmental traj ectories from fourth-grade children to sixth-grade children(N=323).At three measurement points,children reported on their level of depression,and at Time 1 parents reported on their parenting style separately.The study investigated the moderating role of gender difference in the relation between parental warmth and punishment and children's development of depression by means of a latent growth curve analysisThrough the four dyads:mother-son,mother-daughter,father-son,father-daughter,the present study indicated that different dyads have different effects on children's longitudinal depression.The main results are summarized as follows1)Children's average depression increased significantly over time.Initial levels of child depression were not associated with changes in child depression2)The initial level of depression in boys is higher than in girls.There are no growing differences between girls and boys3)Maternal warmth negatively predicted the initial level of children's depression Maternal punishment had no significant impact on children's development of depression4)Paternal warmth and punishment had no significant impact on initial levels of child depression and also changes in child depression5)Children's gender differences moderated the relation between maternal warmth and growth rate of depression.Specifically,maternal warmth decreased the girls' depression traj ectory but had no impact on boys'depression6)Children's gender differences moderated the association between paternal punishment and growth rate of depression.Specifically,paternal punishment increased the girls' depression traj ectory but had no impact on boys'depressionThe findings indicated that warmth parenting and punitive parenting plays different roles in boys' and girls' development of depression.Maternal warmth decreased the growth rate of girls' depression and paternal punishment increased the growth rate of girls' depression.However,both maternal and paternal warmth and punishment had no significant impact on boys' development of depression...