Relationships between maternal perfectionism, maternal depression, parenting behaviours and children's well-being

Abstract

Background and Aims: Perfectionism in mothers is associated with depression, parenting styles, and children’s behavioural outcomes. This thesis aimed first to investigate how perfectionism was associated parenting and children’s behaviour in a group of mothers with depression, and second to conduct a randomized controlled trial of a cognitive bias modification (CBM) intervention to reduce perfectionistic biases in mothers. Method: In Study 1, one hundred and thirty-six mothers with depression were recruited from a psychiatric outpatient clinic in local hospital. They completed self-report measures of depressive mood, perfectionism, parenting behaviours, parenting self-efficacy, and children’s internalising and externalising behaviours. In Study 2, a community sample of 60 mothers were randomized either to an intervention where they completed CBM to modify perfectionistic interpretations (n=30) or to a control condition (n=30). Outcome measures comprising a similarity rating task and scales assessing mood, perfectionism, and parenting behaviours were completed pre-treatment, post-treatment, and at one-month follow-up. Results: In Study 1, maternal depression mediated the association between perfectionism and hostility, while hostility mediated associations between maternal depression and children’s internalising and externalising behaviours. Results from the serial mediation models supported distinct pathways of transmission from different facets of maternal perfectionism to children’s internalising and externalising behaviours. In addition, parenting efficacy moderated the association between maternal depression and hostility. In Study 2, mothers who received CBM intervention showed less perfectionistic bias than controls post-treatment and at one-month follow-up, and increased maternal warmth at post-treatment. Discussion: Our results extend a theoretical framework of maternal depression and provide insights for intervention of maternal depression. The role of maternal depression and perfectionism on parenting behaviours and children’s well-being were delineated. It had shed light on the importance on perfectionism on parenting as well as provided information for distinct transmission pathways for child’s internalising and externalising behaviours. Our findings provided initial evidence for the efficacy of CBM for modulating perfectionism-related bias in the parenting domain. Practical implications of the findings, limitations of the present study and recommendations for future study were discussed.