Adaptive Coping Mediates the Relation Between Mothers’ and Daughters’ Depressive Symptoms: A Moderated Mediation Study

Abstract

Maternal depression is associated with an increased risk for depression in offspring; the factors explaining this association, however, are unclear. We examined coping in a group of 9- to 14-year-old daughters of mothers with and without a history of major depressive disorders. We tested whether daughters’ adaptive coping mediated the association between mothers’ and daughters’ depressive symptoms, and whether these relations were moderated by daughters’ pubertal status. Using moderated mediation analyses, higher levels of maternal depressive symptoms were related to less adaptive coping in daughters, which was related to higher levels of daughters’ depressive symptoms. The mediating effect of coping was evident only for daughters in late stages of pubertal maturation. Early interventions aimed at strengthening coping in girls may have a protective effect on daughters’ risk for depression at later pubertal stages.