Most research examining the impact of early parental depression on the developing child has focused on the nature of parenting practices observed in depressed adults. Maternal elaborative reminiscing, or the extent to which mothers elaboratively discuss past shared experiences with their children, has a considerable influence on children’s emotional and social development and is understudied within the context of maternal depression. The current study is the first to examine whether maternal elaborative reminiscing in middle childhood mediates the association between exposure to maternal depressive symptoms in infancy and later internalizing and externalizing problems. The study included 206 mother–child dyads recruited from the community who participated in a prospective longitudinal study. Maternal depressive symptoms were assessed when offspring were 6-months old. At 5-years old, dyads were observed during a free play task to measure sensitive and harsh-intrusive parenting and during a reminiscing task to measure maternal elaboration. Teacher-reported internalizing and externalizing problems were collected at age 7. A saturated path model revealed that maternal elaborative reminiscing, but not sensitive or harsh-intrusive parenting, fully mediated the association between maternal depression in infancy and externalizing, but not internalizing, problems. Reduced maternal elaboration during parent–child reminiscing constitutes one way in which risk from early maternal depression is associated with later externalizing problems.

大多数研究早期父母抑郁症对发育中儿童的影响的研究都集中在抑郁症成年人中观察到的养育行为的性质上。母亲精心回忆，或母亲与孩子详细讨论过去分享经历的程度，对孩子的情绪和社会发展有相当大的影响，在母亲抑郁的背景下没有得到充分研究。目前的研究是第一个检查母亲在童年中期的精心回忆是否介导了婴儿期暴露于母亲抑郁症状与后来内化和外化问题之间的关联。该研究包括从社区招募的 206 名母子​​二人，他们参与了一项前瞻性纵向研究。在后代 6 个月大时评估母亲的抑郁症状。在 5 岁时，在自由游戏任务中观察到二元组，以衡量敏感和苛刻的侵入性养育方式，在回忆任务中以衡量母亲的精心制作。教师报告的内化和外化问题是在 7 岁时收集的。饱和路径模型显示，母亲精心回忆，但不是敏感或严厉侵入性的养育方式，完全介导了婴儿期母亲抑郁与外化而不是内化问题之间的关联。在亲子回忆期间减少母亲的精心制作是早期母亲抑郁风险与后来外化问题相关的一种方式。在自由游戏任务中观察到 dyads，以测量敏感和苛刻的侵入性养育方式，在回忆任务中测量母亲的精心制作。教师报告的内化和外化问题是在 7 岁时收集的。饱和路径模型显示，母亲精心回忆，但不是敏感或严厉侵入性的养育方式，完全介导了婴儿期母亲抑郁与外化而不是内化问题之间的关联。在亲子回忆期间减少母亲的精心制作是早期母亲抑郁风险与后来外化问题相关的一种方式。在自由游戏任务中观察到 dyads，以测量敏感和苛刻的侵入性养育方式，在回忆任务中测量母亲的精心制作。教师报告的内化和外化问题是在 7 岁时收集的。饱和路径模型显示，母亲精心回忆，但不是敏感或严厉侵入性的养育方式，完全介导了婴儿期母亲抑郁与外化而不是内化问题之间的关联。在亲子回忆期间减少母亲的精心制作是早期母亲抑郁风险与后来外化问题相关的一种方式。饱和路径模型显示，母亲精心回忆，但不是敏感或严厉侵入性的养育方式，完全介导了婴儿期母亲抑郁与外化而非内化问题之间的关联。在亲子回忆期间减少母亲的精心制作是早期母亲抑郁风险与后来外化问题相关的一种方式。饱和路径模型显示，母亲精心回忆，但不是敏感或严厉侵入性的养育方式，完全介导了婴儿期母亲抑郁与外化而非内化问题之间的关联。在亲子回忆期间减少母亲的精心制作是早期母亲抑郁风险与后来外化问题相关的一种方式。