Mental Health of Children of Low-Income Depressed Mothers: Influences of Parenting, Family Environment, and Raters

Abstract

This study contributes to the scientific literature by demonstrating the effects of raters and testing mediators of maternal depression in low-income African-American and Latino families. It demonstrated that mothers, fathers, and teachers observed worse functioning among children of mothers with depression than without depression, although reporters' perspectives varied somewhat. The impact of maternal depression over and above that of poverty suggests the importance of developing and funding services to address the needs of affected families.