The relationship between mother’s depressive symptomsand internalized problems of the child with mediating roleof marital conflict and maternal caregiving quality

Internalized problems are problems that are internal in nature and manifest themselves in the form of withdrawal from social interactions, anxiety, and depression. This study investigated the relationship between maternal depressive symptoms and the child’s internalized problems with the mediating role of marital conflict and the quality of maternal care.

The design of the present study is descriptive-correlational. Subjects consisted of 145 mothers who were selected as a convenience sample and answered the questions of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-S) questionnaire, the revised form of the Marital Conflict Inventory (MCQ-R), Maternal Care Quality Scale, and Achenbach Child Behavior Inventory-Parents’ Version. For data processing, Pearson correlation, path analysis and mediating effects test were used in Macro Preacher and Hayes.

The results showed that there is a relationship between the depressive symptoms of the mother and the internalized problems of the child, the depressive symptoms of the mother and the quality of maternal care (r = -0.343 and P <0.005), the marital conflict and the internalized problems of the child (0.301 r = and P <0.005) and the quality of maternal care and internalized problems (r = -0.206 and P <0.001). The results also showed that marital conflict has a mediating role in the relationship between maternal depressive symptoms and internalized child problems (0.0001) and the quality of maternal care also plays a mediating role in the relationship between maternal depressive symptoms and internalized child problems (p < 0.0001).

Knowledge and benefit from the results of this study can significantly help to improve the understanding of researchers and clinicians about mother-child relationships and the factors affecting the growth and mental health of children.