Maternal Depression and Child Psychopathology: A Meta-Analytic Review

Although the association between maternal depression and adverse child outcomes is well established, the strength of the association,
the breadth or specificity of the outcomes, and the role of moderators are not known. This information is essential to inform
not only models of risk but also the design of preventive interventions by helping to identify subgroups at greater risk than
others and to elucidate potential mechanisms as targets of interventions. A meta-analysis of 193 studies was conducted to
examine the strength of the association between mothers’ depression and children’s behavioral problems or emotional functioning.
Maternal depression was significantly related to higher levels of internalizing, externalizing, and general psychopathology
and negative affect/behavior and to lower levels of positive affect/behavior, with all associations small in magnitude. These
associations were significantly moderated by theoretically and methodologically relevant variables, with patterns of moderation
found to vary somewhat with each child outcome. Results are interpreted in terms of implications for theoretical models that
move beyond main effects models in order to more accurately identify which children of depressed mothers are more or less
at risk for specific outcomes.