Exploring Neural Markers of Reward and Loss Processing and Problematic Parenting Styles Among Mothers With and Without Histories of Depression

Depressed mothers often experience parenting difficulties, which can persist after their symptoms have remitted. However, not all depressed mothers show parenting struggles, suggesting that there could be unidentified characteristics that increase risk. Specifically, neurobiological models emphasize that reward system deficits contribute to maladaptive parenting and depression, but no studies have evaluated how they could conjointly lead to parenting challenges. This study focused on event-related potential (ERP) components, the reward positivity (RewP), and feedback negativity (FN), which assess neural responsiveness to reward and loss feedback, respectively. Mothers with (n = 81) and without (n = 55) depression histories completed a monetary reward task to elicit the FN and RewP, and depression and parenting questionnaires. We found mothers demonstrating a blunted FN to loss and increased depressive symptoms reported greater authoritarian parenting, whereas there was no association between depressive symptoms and authoritarian parenting among mothers exhibiting greater neural loss responsiveness. Furthermore, these effects were specific to maternal current depressive symptoms and not major depressive disorder (MDD) diagnostic history. Maternal depressive symptoms were associated with reduced warmth, but the RewP did not moderate this association. Together, findings suggest that depressed mothers with blunted responsiveness to negative cues may be particularly vulnerable to adopt authoritarian parenting styles.