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March 19, 2008Depressed Caregivers Hostile, Not Warm, to Children |
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From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A new study in the journal Family Process reveals that caregivers with moderate to severe depressive symptoms showed greater hostility and less warmth. Researchers led by Marianne Celano, PhD, of Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, utilized data from Project STAR (Support for Treatment of Asthma Research), a longitudinal study examining treatment adherence among low-income children with asthma. Caregivers with higher levels of depressive symptoms exhibited lower levels of warmth and higher levels of hostility during both loss and conflict tasks. In the loss task, the child was asked to share with family members his/her experience of a previously identified sad event, such as a death or a injury. In the conflict task, parent and child were asked to resolve a disagreement previously identified by each of them in separate interviews, such as a disagreement about chores, sibling conflict, or privileges. By including a task designed to elicit warmth, the study allowed for a more valid exploration of how caregivers respond to children's need for support and nurturance, expanding upon traditional procedures for collecting observational data. The study provides a better test of models for understanding how parenting behaviors associated with caregiver depression may lead to child maladjustment. "Our data may aid mental health clinicians in identifying specific family interaction patterns which may promote optimal asthma management." Wiley-Blackwell publishes approximately 1,400 scholarly peer-reviewed journals and an extensive collection of books with global appeal. For more information on Wiley-Blackwell, please visit www.blackwellpublishing.com or http://interscience.wiley.com.
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