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. 2021 Dec 17;5(Suppl 1):586. doi: 10.1093/geroni/igab046.2248

Maternal Stress, Familial Ties, and Children’s Well-Being Across 23 Years

Jennifer Cleary 1, Jasmine Manalel 2, Simon Brauer 1
PMCID: PMC8680667

Abstract

According to the family stress model, parental stress impacts child well-being through several mechanisms, which may be amplified in ethnic/racial minority families given increased experiences of stress. We extend this model to examine associations between maternal stress and child well-being at three points spanning 23 years, beginning when children were aged 8-12 years and mothers were aged 24-59 (n=193 dyads). Preliminary results indicate that maternal stressors are associated with increased depressive symptoms in childhood (B=3.56, p<0.001), and this association was stronger among Black children compared to White (B=4.12, p<0.001). Effects of maternal stress on children’s depressive symptoms strengthened among White children with proportionally larger kin networks (B=0.05, p<0.001). However, this association weakens as children enter adulthood. Future work will focus on identifying social resources that account for changes in the intergenerational effects of stress.


Articles from Innovation in Aging are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

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