Mother–Child Relationships and Depressive Symptoms in the Transition to Adulthood: An Examination of Racial and Ethnic Differences
Transitions into Parenthood: Examining the Complexities of Childrearing
ISBN: 978-1-83909-222-0, eISBN: 978-1-83909-221-3
Publication date: 25 November 2019
Abstract
Depressive symptoms are higher among racial and ethnic minorities in the United States. Many studies have evidenced associations between school disconnectedness and depressive symptoms by race and ethnicity in adolescence (Joyce & Early, 2014; Walsemann, Bell, & Maitra, 2011). Given that adolescents spend most of their time at home when they are not at school (Larson & Richards, 2001), it is important to understand how mother-child relationships may moderate school disconnectedness, and how mother–child relationships may serve as a protective buffer for depressive symptoms in the transition to adulthood. I use data from Waves II and III of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) from 1995 to 2002 (n = 9,766) and OLS regression analysis to examine how school disconnectedness in adolescence is associated with depressive symptoms in the transition to adulthood, and how mother–child relationships in adolescence moderate these associations in the United States. I examine differences in these relationships across racial and ethnic groups. I find that school disconnectedness in adolescence is associated with increased depressive symptoms in the transition to adulthood, and that maternal warmth and communication moderates the association between school disconnectedness and depressive symptoms. Maternal relationship quality in adolescence serves as an important protective factor for mental health in the transition to adulthood.
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Acknowledgements
Acknowledgments
I am grateful for comments from Sharon Sassler, Kelly Musick, Daniel Lichter, Carolyn Tucker Halpern, Mariana Amorim, Megan Doherty Bea, and the anonymous reviewers on this paper. A former version of this paper was presented at the 2017 PAA Meeting in Chicago, IL. This research was supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under grant number DGE-1144153. This research was also supported by the National Institutes of Health under the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (T32HD049302) from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development or the National Institutes of Health. This research was supported by core grants to the Center for Demography and Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (P2C HD047873). This research uses data from Add Health, a program project directed by Kathleen Mullan Harris and designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and funded by grant P01-HD31921 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Special acknowledgment is due Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisle for assistance in the original design. Information on how to obtain the Add Health data files is available on the Add Health website (http://www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth). No direct support was received from grant P01-HD31921 for this analysis.
Citation
Zhang, X. (2019), "Mother–Child Relationships and Depressive Symptoms in the Transition to Adulthood: An Examination of Racial and Ethnic Differences", Blair, S.L. and Costa, R.P. (Ed.) Transitions into Parenthood: Examining the Complexities of Childrearing (Contemporary Perspectives in Family Research, Vol. 15), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 205-230. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1530-353520190000015010
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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