Risk for Child Psychopathology Across Development: The Role of Paternal Internalizing Symptoms and Child Self-Regulation

Abstract

Dramatic increases in anxiety, depression, and behavioral problems have been documented during the transition from middle childhood to early adolescence (Merikangas et al., 2010; Twenge et al., 2020). Therefore, developmental psychopathologists are continually trying to understand factors that confer risk or resilience to facilitate early intervention and prevention efforts (Cicchetti & Rogosh, 2022). Although fathers exert a significant influence on older children and adolescents (Wilson & Durbin, 2010), there is only a limited understanding of how anxiety and depression in fathers influence maladaptation in youth. Additionally, extant literature suggests that children’s ability to self-regulate may protect or enhance risk for maladaptation during this time (Eisenberg, 2010; Nigg, 2017), however, no studies known to me have examined how interactions between paternal internalizing symptoms and child SR influence child mental health. Thus, using longitudinal data from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development Study (ABCD Study®), the current study adopted a multi-method, multi-informant, longitudinal design combined with a rigorous statistical approach to understand how internalizing symptoms in fathers interact with child SR to predict later externalizing and internalizing symptoms in youth. Results indicated that paternal internalizing problems positively predicted youth internalizing symptoms over time. Further, children of fathers with elevated internalizing problems and weak top-down SR skills were at a higher risk of later internalizing symptoms. Paternal internalizing problems did not significantly predict child externalizing symptoms, though results demonstrated that poor top-down SR is a particularly salient risk factor for externalizing problems regardless of paternal symptoms. Important implications for research and early intervention efforts targeting paternal mental health and child SR were discussed.