Mother- and Father-Rated Competence, Child-Perceived Competence, and Cognitive Distortions: Unique Relations With Children's Depressive Symptoms

Abstract

Examined the unique relations of mother- and father-rated social and academic competence, children's perceived competence, and cognitive distortions to children's depressive symptoms. Participants were 389 8- to 12-year-old children and their mothers and fathers. Mother- and father-rated competence did not explain variability in child-reported depressive symptoms beyond that explained by child-perceived competence. Children's perceived competence was not related to mothers' ratings of children's depressive symptoms after statistically adjusting for mother-rated competence. Although child-perceived academic competence was not related to fathers' ratings of children's depressive symptoms after adjusting for father-rated academic competence, child-perceived social competence explained significant variability in fathers' reports of depressive symptoms, beyond that explained by father-rated social competence. Children's cognitive distortions were significantly related to both child- and mother-reported depressive symptoms after adjusting for the relations of both parent-rated competence and children's perceived competence. The results are discussed in light of competency-based and cognitive models of depression and highlight the need to consider the interplay of parent-rated competence, child-perceived competence, and cognitive distortions in examining childhood depression.