MATERNAL DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS AND RATINGS OF EMOTIONAL DISORDER SYMPTOMS IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS

This study uses information collected on two occasions from a probabil ity sample of families with 8- to 12-year-old children (N = 718) parti cipating in a general population study in 1983 and follow-up in 1987. It focuses on the association between maternal depressive symptoms and emotional disorder in children and adolescents, taking into considera tion the influences of informant rating errors, contextual variables ( economic disadvantage and family dysfunction), and child gender. Covar iance structure analysis revealed a strong association between materna l depressive symptoms in girls (beta = .59 in 1983 and beta = .39 in 1 987) but not in boys. This association is independent of the impact of contextual variables and the treatment of teacher rating errors. Amon g adolescent boys, maternal depressive symptoms are correlated with mo ther rating errors, suggesting the possible presence of maternal bias.