The Development of Behavioral Problems in Middle Childhood: The Role of Early and Recent Stressors

This longitudinal study sought to elucidate the role of mothers’ early depressive symptoms and recent peer victimization, both independently and interactively, in the development of children’s behavioral problems in middle childhood. Mothers (N = 1, 090) reported their depressive symptoms from infancy through first grade and rated children’s behavioral problems when children were in the third, fourth, and fifth grades. Peer victimization was reported by teachers when children were in the third grade. Analyses of growth modeling showed that mothers’ early depressive symptoms and recent peer victimization independently predicted high levels of behavioral problems, particularly externalizing problems, adjusting for mothers’ recent depressive symptoms. Moreover, supporting the stress sensitization model, mothers’ early depressive symptoms interacted with recent peer victimization to predict developmental trajectories of internalizing but not externalizing problems. Children with high levels of mothers’ early depressive symptoms tended to develop persistent and high levels of internalizing problems even in the condition of low levels of peer victimization. The findings clarify the patterns of longitudinal associations between these risk factors and behavioral adjustment and highlight the interactive role of early and recent risk factors, particularly mothers’ depressive symptoms and peer victimization, in understanding the development of behavioral problems in middle childhood.