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Abstract #159866

• Handout (free access)

M. Janice Gilliland, MSPH, PhD, Department of Maternal and Child Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1665 University Boulevard, 1530 3rd Avenue South, Birmingham, AL 35294-0022, 205-934-7161, mjgill@uab.edu, Sylvie Mrug, PhD, Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 912 18th Street South, 1530 3rd Avenue South, Birmingham, AL 35294-1200, and Michael Windle, PhD, Rollins School of Public Health Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Rd NE, Atlanta, GA 30322.

The family stress model postulates that economic hardship affects child adjustment through parental mental health and parenting. A structural equation model was developed to test this model using maternal depressive symptoms and nurturance as mediators of the relationship between economic hardship and child depression. Participants included African American and Caucasian adolescents (n=572, mean age=13.2) and their mothers who participated in Wave 2 of the Birmingham (AL) Youth Violence Study. Economic hardship and maternal nurturance were represented by latent factors, while maternal depression and child depression were measured directly. The economic hardship latent factor was indicated by five mother-reported variables: unmet needs, difficulty making ends meet, negative financial events and cutbacks in past year, and household income. The nurturance latent factor was derived from child and parent reports of parental nurturance. Mothers and children reported on their own depressive symptoms. In the model, economic hardship predicted maternal depression and nurturance. In turn, higher maternal depression and lower nurturance were associated with higher child depression. The link between maternal depression and nurturance was tested but did not reach statistical significance. The model also adjusted for child gender. Overall, the model fit the data well (RSMEA=.045). Further analyses explored race/ethnic differences using multi-group SEM. No paths were significantly different by race/ethnicity; therefore, the overall model was accepted as the final model. The results suggest that financial stress influences adolescent depressive symptoms indirectly through increasing mothers' depressive symptoms and decreasing parental nurturance. These findings provide strong support for the family stress model.

Learning Objectives:

• Articulate the association between family financial stressors and internalizing problems in adolescents.
• Describe how maternal depression and parenting mediate the effects of family economic hardship on adolescents.

Keywords: Adolescents, Depression

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

• Handout (free access)