| Parenting practices have also been found to moderate parental depression. For instance, the NICHD Early Child Care Research Network (1999) analyzed, longitudinally, maternal sensitivity to child needs as a moderator of the effects of maternal depression. Researchers obtained maternal reports of depression from time of the birth of the woman’s child until the child was 36 months of age. Observational data of the mother-child interaction was collected from the sample of 1,215 women and their infants. Results supported a moderating effect, showing that high maternal sensitivity predicted better outcomes for those children who had depressed mothers. |
