Maternal Supervision of Children During Their First 3 Years of Life: The Influence of Maternal Depression and Child Gender

• Published in: Journal of pediatric psychology Vol. 39; no. 3; pp. 349 - 357
• Main Authors: PHELAN, Kieran J, MORRONGIELLO, Barbara A, KHOURY, Jane C, YINGYING XU, LIDDY, Stacey, LANPHEAR, Bruce
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Atlanta, GA Oxford University Press 01.04.2014
• Subjects: Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Biological and medical sciences; Child clinical studies; Child, Preschool; Depression; Depression - psychology; Female; Humans; Infant; Male; Medical sciences; Miscellaneous; Mood disorders; Mother-Child Relations; Mothers - psychology; Parenting - psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Regular; Sex Factors; Human; Mood disorder; Sex; Development; child development; Depression; child gender; Gender; Maternal diseases; Child; Supervision; maternal depression; supervision
• ISSN: 0146-8693; 1465-735X
• DOI: 10.1093/jpepsy/jst090

The present study examined the effect of child gender and maternal depressive symptoms on routine supervisory practices of mothers longitudinally. Self-report supervision practices were obtained at various time points from 3 months through 3 years of age. From 3 to 36 months, the quantity of time mothers reported supervising decreased from 7.1 to 6.3 hours, and the proportion of time spent in an intense style decreased from 63 to 46%, whereas that spent in a peripheral style increased from 14 to 32%. Mothers reported more time supervising girls and a greater proportion of this was in an intense style. Mothers with elevated depressive symptoms reported more time supervising but a lower proportion in an intense style. Over the first 36 months of life, routine patterns of supervision change and these vary as a function of maternal depression symptoms and child gender. Implications for child injury risk are discussed.