Depression in mothers and behaviour problems with their preschool children

Abstract

A follow‐up study of 224 families of a birth cohort of 272 families in a multi‐ethnic poor socio‐economic municipality in Melbourne when the children were 4 years old showed that 27% of the mothers were depressed. There was no difference in the depression rate between Australian‐born and immigrant mothers, a finding in marked contrast to the first year of the study when the depression rate was significantly higher in those immigrant mothers who had been in Australia for less than 3 years, were unable to speak English and who did not have an extended family or close friends. Depression in this group of mothers was attributed to resettlement problems, which over a period of three years had ameliorated. At 4 years the most important factor associated with depression in both Australian‐born and immigrant mothers was the quality of marital relationships. Lack of an intimate support relationship made mothers more vulnerable to the stresses of child care and rearing, home‐making and life events. In Australian‐born mothers only, another significant factor in vulnerability to depression, was their early childhood experiences of being reared in a disruptive home or in an institution and of being unwanted. In immigrant mothers, but not in Australian‐born mothers, life events were significantly correlated with depression. The depressed mothers, both Australian‐born and immigrant, perceived their 4 year old children to have significantly more behavioural problems than mothers who were not depressed.