Maternal depressive symptoms and child temperament: Longitudinal associations with executive functioning

• Temperament is a moderator in relation of maternal depressive symptoms to youth EF.
• Moderation revealed for both EC and negative affectivity temperament constructs.
• Early childhood is especially salient for later EF development.
• Elevated early depressive symptoms overrode association between temperament & EF.
• EF is similar for negatively tempered youth irrespective of depressive symptom context.

The present study investigated the contributions of maternal depressive symptoms and child temperament to youths' executive functioning (EF) across an 18-year longitudinal study. The primary hypothesis proposed that the association between youths' exposure to early maternal depressive symptoms (ages 3 & 5) and their EF (age 18) would be moderated by temperament in middle childhood (ages 8 & 10). Temperament was a significant moderator of the association between early maternal depressive symptoms and youth EF. Positive child temperament (high effortful control, EC, and low negative affectivity, NA) was associated with higher EF when maternal depressive symptoms during early childhood were low. In contrast, elevated maternal depressive symptoms overrode any associations between child temperament and later EF. Parallel analyses examining the interaction between child temperament and maternal depressive symptoms during middle childhood (controlling for earlier maternal depressive symptoms) revealed a different pattern of results. Clinical implications for prevention/intervention work on EF are discussed.