Obesity can have far reaching negative effects on a child or adolescent's health and quality of life. Child and adolescent obesity has a strong correlation with health-related quality of life (HRQOL), an indicator of an individual's total wellbeing, including physical, emotional, and social aspects of that individual's life. HRQOL can be negatively affected by obesity across several domains, including physical comfort, body esteem, social life, family relations, emotional well-being, and general quality of life (Nadeau et al., 2011; Herzer et al., 2011; Modi et al., 2008). Another area of concern for this population is that parental stress is much higher in parents with children and adolescents who are overweight or obese (Chiou & Hsieh, 2008; Streisand et al., 2003). This relationship is shown to compromise children's psychological well-being and hinder treatment (Cushner-Weinstein et al., 2008; Mullins et al., 2007; Ohleyer et al., 2007). The purpose of the current study was to expand previous research by examining the relations between depression, HRQOL, and parental stress. The study also explored how gender and BMI affect the relationship between depression and HRQOL. Participants included children 5-13 years of age and their parents living in the Central Texas area. The children were identified by their pediatrician as being overweight or obese. Results for the main analyses provided several significant findings. First, results demonstrated that the relation between depressive symptoms and child reported HRQOL was significant. Specifically, depressive domains of interpersonal problems, anhedonia, and negative self-esteem were all significant and negatively related to the child's report of HRQOL. Likewise, the HRQOL domains of physicality, teasing/marginalization, and social avoidance were both significantly and negatively related to depressive symptoms. There was no significant relation between depression and parent's perception of HRQOL or any of their specific domains. Furthermore, the results indicate that there were no significant gender differences and that higher BMI was not associated with an increased relation between child reported HRQOL and depressive symptoms. Finally, parental stress was significantly and negatively related to child and parent reported HRQOL. Implications, limitations, and areas of future research are discussed. / text

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A substantial literature indicates that children and adolescents living with a depressed caregiver are at increased risk for emotional and behavioral problems. Although parental depression has been shown to have non-specific associations across child problems, researchers have begun to examine whether specific risk factors, such as parental depression, are associated with specific child outcomes, such as child anxiety. Parenting behavior has been identified as one potential mechanism for the transmission of depression and other psychopathology from parent to child. The extant literature supports this mechanism, as the parenting behaviors of mothers with and without a history of depression have been found to differ in important ways. Moreover, two separate literatures suggest that the same parenting behaviors are associated with both parental depression and child anxiety. The current study was designed to extend past research in the areas of parental depression, parenting, and child anxiety by examining parenting behavior as an explanatory mechanism for the association of parental depressive symptoms and child anxiety symptoms. Using a sample of parents with a history of depression and their 9- to 15-year old children, the current study examined four specific parenting behaviors (i.e., hostility, intrusiveness, withdrawal, and warmth), observed in the context of a stressful parent-child interaction task, as mediators of the association between parental depressive symptoms and both parent and child reports of child anxiety symptoms. Limited support was found for the meditational role of specific parenting behaviors in the association of parental depressive symptoms and child anxiety symptoms. Linear mixed-model analyses revealed an inverse and likely spurious relation between parental depressive symptoms and parent report of child anxiety symptoms. A significant positive association also emerged between parental depressive symptoms and observed parental withdrawal. No support was found for the other relations of the proposed mediation model. Possible reasons for the lack of significant findings are discussed.