Mutual Influence of Parental Depression and Parenting: An Actor–Partner Interdependence Analysis Based on Chinese Families with Adolescent Twins

Examining the dyadic effects of parental depression on parenting behaviors is important for understanding the dynamic impact of a family member's negative emotions on parenting and family-based interventions. To clarify the interpersonal processes between parental depression and parenting within families, this study aimed to investigate the mutual influence of parental depression and parenting (warmth-reasoning and harshness-hostility) in one large sample of adolescent twins and their parents. A sample of 1387 Chinese families with adolescent twins was used. The actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) was used to examine the mutual influences. By examining the dyadic patterns with APIM, we found that depressive symptoms in mothers or fathers significantly influence their own and their partner's parenting behaviors. The model comparisons found no significant difference in the partner effect between maternal and paternal depression. In the Chinese family system, depression in one parent influences not only their own parenting but also their partner's parenting.