Abstract:
Depressive symptoms can be extremely distressing for the impacted individual, but the
deleterious outcomes extend beyond the individual. Yet, the impact on families is frequently
overlooked, and little is known about how parents’ depressive symptoms affect family
outcomes. The current research investigated whether parents’ depressive symptoms predicted
lower family cohesion via greater hostility and withdrawal in both couple and parent-child
relationships. Each parent from a community sample of 285 mixed-gender couples (N = 570)
completed self-reported measures of depressive symptoms, couple and parent-child hostility
and withdrawal, and family cohesion. Families then attended a laboratory visit where they
were video-recorded engaging in a 5-minute free-play interaction, which trained coders used
to rate couple and parent-child hostility and withdrawal, as well as overall family cohesion.
Structural equation modelling revealed that parents’ depressive symptoms predicted lower
self-reported cohesion via couples’ self-reported hostility and withdrawal. Couples’ hostility
and withdrawal also spilled over into self-reported parent-child withdrawal, which in turn
predicted lower cohesion. However, these predicted associations were not replicated with the
observational data. The self-report results indicate that parents’ evaluations of the couple
relationship may play a pivotal role in determining whether parents’ depressive symptoms go
on to negatively impact perceived family cohesion. These findings offer novel evidence
identifying parents’ depressive symptoms as a risk factor for family cohesion and carry
important clinical implications. The results also offer important future directions, including
methodological recommendations for self-report and observational assessments, as well as
examining the role of children’s contribution to family functioning.
