Longitudinal Correlates of Depressive Symptoms Among Urban African American Children: II. Extension of Findings Across 3 Years

Abstract

We examined the association between childhood self-reported depressive symptoms and 2 areas of child psychosocial functioning: social and cognitive competence. Urban African American children, ages 6 to 11 and their mothers (N = 177) were interviewed at 2 assessments separated by 3 years. As a test of the relations among depressive symptoms and subsequent psychosocial functioning, independent hierarchical regression analyses were performed, with mother-reported social and cognitive competence and grades at the latter assessment as dependent variables. The analyses indicated that Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) scores at the initial assessment predicted changes in mother-reported social competence from the initial assessment to the latter assessment. This study also examined the impact of an additional stressor, maternal HIV infection, on this same relation. The analyses indicated that maternal HIV infection did not moderate the relation between childhood self-reported depressive symptoms and later competence.