Relationship of Family Life Events, Maternal Depression, and Child-Rearing Problems

The relationship between maternal reports of child-rearing problems, family life events, and maternal depressive symptoms was studied in a birth cohort of children in New Zealand. Rates of child-rearing problems showed a steady increase with both increasing levels of family life events and maternal depressive symptoms. Log-linear modeling of the results suggested that the apparent correlation between family life events and reports of child-rearing problems was mediated by the effects of maternal depression so that women subject to large numbers of adverse life events suffered increased rates of depression and in turn reported higher rates of problem behavior in their children. There was no significant correlation between family life events and reports of child-rearing problems when the effects of maternal depressive symptoms were taken into account. The findings tend to suggest that the previously reported association between family life events and child-rearing problems arises because life events provoke depressive symptoms in women and in turn this alters the way in which they perceive or evaluate their children's behavior.