Pacific Islands Families Study: depressive symptoms in 9-year-old Pacific children living in New Zealand.

AIM: This study investigated associations between individual, maternal, cultural and socio-demographic variables with symptoms of child depression in 9-year-old Pacific children living in New Zealand.

METHOD: The longitudinal Pacific Islands Families (PIF) Study is following a cohort of Pacific children born in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2000. At approximately 9 years postpartum, child self-reports (n=858) of depressive symptoms were gathered.

RESULTS: Being a victim or perpetrator of bullying, previous internalising behaviour problems and low maternal education were significantly associated with high child depression scores. Low depression scores were associated with children's positive perception of self, physical abilities, parental and peer relationships, high verbal intelligence, and high performance at school.

CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that building up child self-esteem and supportive relationships around the child are likely to reduce the risk of depression and these strengths may mitigate against bullying involvement.