ABSTRACT
In a review of the biological, psychological, and social factors that contribute to the onset and maintenance of disruptive behaviors in childhood and adolescence, Hill noted the interplay between environmental disadvantages, such as hostile or intrusive parenting, and individual factors, such as impairments in language and in executive functions (EF). Also underscoring the importance of emotional climate, other researchers have investigated the effects of maternal depression on children’s EF development. Depressive symptoms undermine parenting in several ways, including: activation of low-positive and high-negative emotion, reduced child-oriented goals and attention to child input, and increased negative appraisals of children and parenting competence, coupled with increased positive evaluations of coercive parenting. Of course, maternal depression also affects health and safety practices. For example, maternal depression was shown to relate to food insecurity in a low-income sample. The impact of maternal depression on child EF may also include indirect effects of family chaos.
