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Journal of Pediatric Psychology Advance Access originally published online on March 31, 2005
Journal of Pediatric Psychology 2006 31(1):50-64; doi:10.1093/jpepsy/jsj021
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Pediatric Psychology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oupjournals.org

The Relationship of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure and the Postnatal Environment to Child Depressive Symptoms

Mary J. O’Connor, PhD and Blair Paley, PhD

University of California at Los Angeles, and Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science

All correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Mary O’Connor, UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute & Hospital, 760 Westwood Plaza, Room 68–265 A, Los Angeles, California 90024. E-mail: moconnor{at}mednet.ucla.edu.

Objective This study examined the association between prenatal alcohol exposure and child depressive symptoms, and the mediating effects of maternal and child characteristics. Methods Participants were 42 children aged 4–5 years and their biological mothers. Prenatal alcohol consumption was assessed by self-report of maximum drinks per drinking occasion. The Pictorial Depression Scale (PDS) measured child depressive symptoms. Mother–child interactions were assessed using the family interaction puzzle task. Results Structural equation modeling indicated that prenatal alcohol exposure was associated with more negative child affect. In turn, mothers of more negative children were less emotionally connected to their children, and those children had higher levels of depressive symptomatology. Results could not be explained by current maternal drinking patterns or maternal depression. Conclusions Study findings highlight the importance of examining prenatal alcohol exposure as a risk factor in the prediction of childhood-onset depression and the environmental mechanisms that may mediate that relationship.

Key words: prenatal alcohol exposure; child depression.


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