title: Caregiver depressive symptoms and observed family interaction in low-income children with persistent asthma.
abstract: This study examined the relationship between caregiver depressive symptoms and observed parenting behaviors and family processes during interactions among 101 urban, low-income Africtan American families with children with persistent asthma. Caregivers (primarily female) were assessed on four dimensions (i.e., warmth/ involvement, hostility, consistent discipline, relationship quality) in three videotaped interaction tasks (loss, conflict, cohesion). The results indicated that increased depressive symptoms were significantly associated with lower warmth/involvement and synchrony scores and greater hostility scores during the loss and conflict tasks. In the total sample, the highest levels of hostility and the lowest levels of warmth/involvement were found for the conflict task; nevertheless, caregivers with moderate/severe depressive symptoms showed a significantly greater increase in hostility from the loss to the conflict task than caregivers with minimal/mild depressive symptoms. The findings highlight the salience of considering task content in family observational process research to expand our understanding of depressed and nondepressed caregivers abilities to modulate appropriately their behaviors and affect across various family interactions. Implications for improving asthma management for low-income children with persistent asthma are discussed, including the utility of multidisciplinary interventions that combine asthma education with family therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, 49 Jesse Hill Drive, SE Atlanta, GA 30303, USA. mcelano@emory.edu
authors.forename: Marianne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Celano
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bakeman
authors.forename: Osvaldo
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Gaytan
authors.forename: Chaundrissa Oyeshiku
authors.initials: CO
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Koci
authors.forename: Sasschon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Henderson
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American; D001249:Asthma / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D005845:Georgia; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011203:Poverty; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology