Investigating parent withdrawal as a potential mediator in the relationship between parent depressive symptoms and youth depressive symptoms in American Indian/Alaska native youth with asthma

Objective: The present study examined parent withdrawal as a potential mediator in the relationship between parent depressive symptoms and child depressive symptoms in a sample of American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) youth with asthma. Method: A subsample AI/AN youth with asthma were drawn from the larger sample of youth enrolled in the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development study (N = 85). These youth and their parents have completed demographic measures, and parents have completed the Adult Self Report (ASR) and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Youth completed the acceptance subscale of the Child Report of Parental Behavior Inventory-Short (CRPBI-S). Results: Bootstrapped mediation regression analyses revealed a significant direct effect for parent depressive symptoms → youth depressive symptoms (path c’ = .48; 95% CI = .31 to .60), controlling for parent employment. (see Figure 1). Parent depressive symptoms were not significantly associated with parent withdrawal (path a = .66, 95% CI = -.005 to .01). Parent withdrawal was not significantly associated with youth depressive symptoms (path b = .84, 95% CI = -2.48 to 6.14). Mediation analysis revealed a non-significant parent depressive symptoms → parent withdrawal → youth depressive symptoms indirect effect (path c = .00; 95% CI = -.01 to .03. Conclusion: Results from the proposed analyses are anticipated to indicate that the effect of increased parent depressive symptoms on youth depressive symptoms is indirect and operates through the mediating influence of youths’ experience of parent withdrawal.