Maternal depression and school-aged children behavior

A depressão materna caracteriza-se como condição de vulnerabilidade ao desenvolvimento infantil. No presente estudo, objetivou-se comparar o perfil comportamental, as percepções e os eventos de vida de escolares que convivem com a depressão materna (G1) aos daqueles que convivem com mães sem história psiquiátrica (G2), segundo as informações obtidas com as mães e as crianças. Avaliou-se 40 crianças, de 7 a 12 anos, por meio do Teste Raven, da Escala Infantil Piers-Harris de Autoconceito e da Entrevista de Eventos Vitais. As mães foram avaliadas pela Entrevista Clínica Estruturada para o DSM-IV para a confirmação diagnóstica, e responderam a Escala Comportamental Infantil A2 de Rutter. A depressão materna mostrou-se associada a problemas comportamentais das crianças, segundo o relato das mães e a percepção das crianças.Maternal depression is characterized as a condition of vulnerability to children's development. The aim of this study was to compare the behavioral profile, the self-perceptions and the life events experienced by school-aged children that live with maternal depression (G1) to those of children who live with mothers without psychiatric history (G2), according to mothers' and children's perceptions. Forty children, from 7 to 12 years old, were evaluated by the Raven Test, the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale and the Interview of Vital Events. Mothers were evaluated by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID) for diagnostic confirmation, and answered to the Children's Behavioral Scale A2 by Rutter. Maternal depression was associated with behavioral problems according to mothers' and children's perceptions.CNP