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. 2017 Jan;122(1):11-24.
doi: 10.1352/1944-7558-122.1.11.

Executive Functioning Mediates the Effect of Behavioral Problems on Depression in Mothers of Children With Developmental Disabilities

Wai Chan  1 , Leann E Smith  1 , Jan S Greenberg  1 , Jinkuk Hong  1 , Marsha R Mailick  1
Affiliations

Executive Functioning Mediates the Effect of Behavioral Problems on Depression in Mothers of Children With Developmental Disabilities

Wai Chan et al. Am J Intellect Dev Disabil. 2017 Jan.

Abstract

The present investigation explored long-term relationships of behavioral symptoms of adolescents and adults with developmental disabilities with the mental health of their mothers. Fragile X premutation carrier mothers of an adolescent or adult child with fragile X syndrome (n = 95), and mothers of a grown child with autism (n = 213) were included. Behavioral symptoms at Time 1 were hypothesized to predict maternal depressive symptoms at Time 3 via maternal executive dysfunction at Time 2. Results provided support for the mediating pathway of executive dysfunction. Additionally, the association of behavioral symptoms with executive dysfunction differed across the two groups, suggesting that premutation carriers may be more susceptible to caregiving stress due to their genotype.

Keywords: autism; behavioral problems; depressive symptoms; executive functioning; fragile X syndrome.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The mediational models for child behavioral symptoms, maternal executive functioning limitations, and maternal depressive symptoms. Standardized coefficients (β) are reported. Values in parentheses represent the estimates between child behavioral symptoms and maternal depressive symptoms before adding maternal executive functioning limitations to the model. Each variable has identical set of covariates (i.e., maternal educational level and marital status, number of children with disabilities in the family, and the age, coresidence status, and daily living skills of the son or daughter with developmental disabilities) which are not illustrated in the figure for simplicity. †p < .10, *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001.
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