ABSTRACT

Depressive symptoms in parents and caregivers to children are associated with adverse biopsychosocial outcomes for caregivers themselves and the children in their custody. Higher overall and parenting-related stress, including stress over children’s unsupervised after-school time, is associated with increased caregiver depression risk. Child after-school program participation is a form of social support that may mitigate parenting-related stress and reduce caregiver depression risk. This study tested for the association between child after-school program participation and caregiver depression in a sample of 486 caregivers in Richmond, Virginia. Child after-school program participation was associated with a significant reduction in the likelihood of a past caregiver depression diagnosis (OR = 0.58, 95% CI = 0.39– 0.86, p = .007). This relationship remained significant after adjusting for the influence of caregiver anxiety, stress, financial hardship, and sociodemographic characteristics (OR = 0.49, 95% CI = 0.27– 0.86, p = .015). Child after-school program participation may function as a protective factor that reduces caregiver depression risk. More research is needed to determine whether the observed association is causal in nature and dosage dependent. Findings from this and future studies may be used to inform evaluation of the impact of after-school programs at the family-level.

摘要

父母和儿童看护者的抑郁症状与看护者自己和他们监护下的儿童的不良生物心理社会结果有关。较高的整体压力和育儿相关压力，包括儿童放学后无人监督的压力，与护理人员抑郁风险增加有关。儿童课后计划参与是一种社会支持形式，可以减轻与养育相关的压力并降低看护人的抑郁风险。这项研究在弗吉尼亚州里士满的 486 名照料者的样本中测试了儿童放学后计划参与与照料者抑郁之间的关联。儿童课后计划的参与与过去被看护者诊断为抑郁症的可能性显着降低有关（OR = 0.58，95% CI = 0.39–0.86，p= .007）。在调整照顾者焦虑、压力、经济困难和社会人口特征的影响后，这种关系仍然显着（OR = 0.49，95% CI = 0.27–0.86，p = .015）。儿童课后计划的参与可能起到保护因素的作用，可降低看护人的抑郁风险。需要更多的研究来确定观察到的关联是否具有因果关系和剂量依赖性。本次研究和未来研究的结果可用于评估课后计划在家庭层面的影响。