The Effects of Maternal Depression on Nine-Year-Old Children's Behavior, Physical Health, and Cognition

Abstract

This paper investigates the effects of maternal depression, including its occurrence and chronicity, on nine-year-old children’s behavior, physical health, and cognition, as well as the extent to which five mechanisms explain the association between maternal depression’s chronicity and these outcomes. I expand upon existing literature by studying these three types of outcomes together in older children; using a recent, large data set with multiple waves to establish proper temporal ordering; employing models which control for unobserved time-invariant heterogeneity and endogeneity bias; and elucidating the mechanisms which link maternal depression to these outcomes. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), I conduct this analysis with ordinary least squares (OLS), instrumental variable (IV), Lewbel IV, and fixed effects regression models. I find that maternal depression significantly negatively impacts children’s behavior and physical health at age nine, while its relationship to their cognition remains ambiguous. Across all models, these demonstrated effects increase in magnitude and significance with depression’s chronicity. Estimates indicate that economic hardship explains a significant portion of the association between maternal depression and all three categories of child outcomes, while mothering behaviors, co-parenting, and maternal health also play an important role for some outcomes. These findings provide support for potential policies, such as cost-effective preventive depression screenings, making appropriate treatment more financially viable for all individuals, and assisting children at-risk for or already suffering from behavioral and physical health problems. Future research should investigate the persistent uncertainty about maternal depression’s effect on children’s cognition and the mechanisms underlying this association, as well as how depression’s severity changes the magnitude of the relationships identified in this paper.