1. Objectifs

Intentions :
« Our first objective is to describe the developmental patterns of DAS [depressive and anxiety symptoms] from 1½ to 5 years and to identify children who followed atypical and elevated developmental trajectories of DAS. Our second objective is to model the associations between risk factors assessed at six months with atypical and elevated trajectories of DAS by examining the contribution of (a) child characteristics (sex and temperament); (b) family risk characteristics (maternal depression, maternal antisocial behaviors, maternal low education, insufficient family income); and (c) family processes (parenting practices and family dysfunction). » (p. 1202)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
« The sample was drawn from a total of 2120 infants representative of children born in the province of Quebec (Canada) in 1997-1998 and followed yearly from 5 to 60 months of age. [...] The multivariate analyses were conducted on the 1759 children (82.97%) for whom complete data was available. » (p. 1202)

Instruments :
- Preschool Behavior Questionnaire (Behar & Stringfield, 1974)
- Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach, 1991)

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

The results indicate that « [...] DAS increased substantially in two of the three distinct trajectory groups identified: High-Rising (14.7%); Moderate-Rising (55.4%); and Low (29.9%). Two factors distinguished the High-Rising group from the other two: Difficult temperament at 5 months [...] and maternal lifetime major depression [...]. Two factors distinguished the High-Rising group from the Low group: High family dysfunction [...] and Low parental self-efficacy [...]. DAS tend to increase in frequency over the first 5 years of life. Atypically high level can be predicted from mother and child characteristics present before 6 months of age. Preventive interventions should be experimented with at risk infants and parents. » (p. 1201)