Prospective Associations of Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Emotion Dysregulation with Children's Internalizing Problems: The Moderating Role of Fathers.

The occurrence of internalizing symptoms is prevalent among young children and can be observed as early as preschool years. Using a longitudinal approach, this study examined the moderating role of paternal depressive symptoms/emotion dysregulation in the prospective associations between maternal depressive symptoms/emotion dysregulation and children's internalizing problems (depressive and anxiety symptoms). Ninety-four preschoolers and their mothers and fathers participated in the study. Mothers and fathers completed online questionnaires for all variables when their children were 4 years old and one year later. The results indicated that paternal depressive symptoms moderated the association between maternal emotion dysregulation and children's later depressive, but not anxiety, symptoms. Specifically, higher levels of depressive symptoms in fathers exacerbated the negative influence of maternal emotion dysregulation on children's later depressive symptoms, whereas fathers with low levels of depressive symptoms served a protective role. The findings enhance our understanding of the interaction between maternal and paternal psychological characteristics in contributing to children's anxiety and depressive symptoms.