Maryna Raskin

Limiting Home Visiting Effects: Maternal Depression as a Moderator of Child Maltreatment

OBJECTIVE: To test, with a sample of adolescent mothers (16–20 at childbirth) and their first-born infants/toddlers (average age 1 year), whether the impact of a home visiting (HV) child maltreatment prevention program was moderated by maternal depression. METHODS: The study design was a randomized controlled trial of Healthy Families Massachusetts, a statewide child maltreatment prevention program. A total of 707 first-time mothers were randomly assigned to the HV or control group. The HV group received visits from paraprofessional home visitors. Mothers in the control group were referred to other service providers. The outcome variable consisted of state Child Protective Services reports of child abuse and neglect (mother or other person as perpetrator). Maternal depression was assessed by maternal report (Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression questionnaire). RESULTS: A considerable proportion of families had child maltreatment reports (30% of sample) and maternal depression (38% had clinically significant symptoms). Most maltreatment was neglect. Among control group mothers, reports of maltreatment did not vary according to depressive symptoms. For HV mothers, probability of reports varied with levels of depressive symptoms. Nonsymptomatic HV mothers were less likely to have a child who was reported for maltreatment compared with HV mothers who endorsed clinical levels of depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of maternal depressive symptoms in this sample, and the link between depression and child maltreatment prevention program effectiveness, suggest that home visitors be alert to maternal depression. Programs also should be aware of possible surveillance effects related to maternal depression.

Improving Adolescent Parenting: Results From a Randomized Controlled Trial of a Home Visiting Program for Young Families

OBJECTIVES Our aim was to estimate the effects of Healthy Families Massachusetts, a statewide home visiting program serving first-time adolescent parents, on parenting, child development, educational attainment, family planning, and maternal health and well-being. METHODS We used a randomized controlled trial design to randomly assign the 704 participants to a group receiving home visiting services or a control group. Between 2008 and 2012, telephone and in-person interviews were conducted and administrative data obtained at 12 and 24 months after enrollment. Intention-to-treat analyses compared group differences across 5 outcome domains: parenting, child health and development, educational and economic achievement, family planning, and parental health and well-being. RESULTS The home visiting program had a positive influence on parenting stress, college attendance, condom use, intimate partner violence, and engagement in risky behaviors. No negative findings were observed. CONCLUSIONS A paraprofessional home visiting program specifically targeting young mothers appears effective in domains of particular salience to young parents and their infants and toddlers. Expanding participation in the program appears a worthy goal for program administrators and policymakers.

INFLUENCE OF MOTHER'S DEPRESSION ON HER REPORTS OF FATHER INVOLVEMENT AND CHILD BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS: A LATENT STATE-TRAIT APPROACH

Research on father involvement has shown positive effects on child development. Because fathers in high social risk samples may be hard to recruit or retain in studies, the literature often has relied on maternal report of father involvement. A major limitation of this approach is that unobserved traits of the reporting mothers may distort the real associations between father involvement and childrens development. Using maternal data from a large, longitudinal sample (N = 704) of low-income, young mothers, we evaluated the degree to which a stable depressive trait affected the link between mother-reported measures of father involvement and child problems. Three waves of maternal depression data were used to fit a latent state-trait model of depression, allowing for separate estimates of occasion-specific symptoms and stable depressive trait. A latent regression analysis which did not control for this trait revealed a link between father involvement and child problems similar in magnitude to the links reported in the literature. However, this association disappeared once we accounted for the effect of maternal depressive trait. Results suggest that studies using maternal reports of both father and child behaviors should control for such confounding effects. We elaborate on these findings in the conclusion and offer suggestions for future research on the role of fathers in child development.

Job-Related Stress and Depression in Orphanage and Preschool Caregivers in Ukraine.

Emotional well-being of child care providers is important to the welfare of their young charges. Elevated depression and job-related stress may affect caregivers’ ability to establish empathic connections with children. This study examined work conditions, job-related stress, and depression in 51 orphanage workers and 69 preschool teachers in Ukraine. Clinically significant levels of depressive symptoms were found in both groups. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that higher levels of perceived job resources and vacation use predicted lower depression. Predictors of perceived job resources included depression, perceived job control, and proportion of children between ages 2 and 3 in the group. A moderating effect of cognitive coping on the relationship between job control and job resources was found. This article informs interventions to promote positive development of children by identifying several factors that appear to reduce caregiver stress and depression.

Patterns of goal attainment among young mothers in a home visiting program

ABSTRACT This paper examined heterogeneity in parents’ patterns of goal attainment following home visiting. Young mothers (n = 696) participating in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluation of a statewide home visiting program were classified, using latent class analysis (LCA), according to their pattern of goal attainment (i.e., educational attainment, employment, parenting, personal functioning) two years postpartum. We explored direct and indirect (via social connectedness) associations between program participation and goal attainment. LCA revealed four classes: (a) High Education & Employment/High Parenting & Personal Functioning (n = 286, 41%); (b) High Education & Employment/Low Parenting & Personal Functioning (n = 212, 30%); (c) Low Education & Employment/Low Parenting & Personal Functioning (n = 71, 10%); and (d) Low Education & Employment/High Parenting & Personal Functioning (n = 127, 18%). Home visiting was not directly associated with class membership, but indirectly through social connectedness. This paper contributes to understanding home visiting impacts.