Prospective relationship between maternal depressive symptoms and asthma morbidity among inner-city African American children.
OBJECTIVE
To examine prospective relationships between caregiver's depressive symptoms and child asthma morbidity among inner-city African American families.


METHODS
Phone surveys were conducted 6 months apart with 262 African American mothers of children with asthma. Cross-lagged structural path analysis was used for data analyses.


RESULTS
Using goodness-of-fit indices, the final model for asthma symptoms had a good fit to the data. Time 1 (T1) maternal depressive symptoms predicted T2 child asthma symptoms (beta =.16, p <.01); however, T1 asthma symptoms did not predict T2 maternal depressive symptoms (beta =.03, non-significant). In contrast, in the final model for emergency department (ED) visits there was no predictive association between maternal depressive symptoms and ED visits.


CONCLUSIONS
Maternal depressive symptoms may have a detrimental effect on child asthma morbidity among inner-city African American families, rather than vice versa. Ameliorating maternal depressive symptoms may result in better asthma outcomes for inner-city children.
Otsuki
Michiko
M
University of South Florida, USA.
Eakin
Michelle N
MN
Arceneaux
Lisa L
LL
Rand
Cynthia S
CS
Butz
Arlene M
AM
Riekert
Kristin A
KA
D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D001249:Asthma / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D014505:Urban Population