The relationship between caregiver depression, potential for reabuse, and motivation to change parenting in families with child maltreatment

In 2008, United States (U.S.) state child protective services received 3.3 million reports of child abuse and neglect (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2010). There is an established relationship in the literature between caregiver depression and child maltreatment. Parent mental illness can disrupt family dynamics and impact caregivers' daily functioning, including self-care and parenting. While there is research citing caregiver depression as a risk factor, there is limited research on whether caregiver readiness to change parenting lowers the risk for future potential child abuse. This study utilized a sample of 110 caregivers with moderate to severe depression involved in child welfare for confirmed child abuse and neglect. The study investigated the relationship between moderate to severe caregiver depression and child maltreatment, proposing three hypotheses: 1) caregiver depression is associated with more severity of abuse and neglect, 2) caregiver depression is associated with a higher potential for child abuse in the future, and 3) caregivers with depression, who report a higher willingness to change their parenting, have a lower potential to re-abuse their children in the future. Results did not support the first or third hypotheses, but supported the second, indicating a statistically significant, positive correlation between severity of caregiver depression and higher potential for future child abuse, such that as caregiver depression increases in severity, so does the potential for future child abuse. This finding sheds light on the importance of providing mental health services and, in general, more intensive services to depressed caregivers in child maltreatment cases, particularly those caregivers reporting moderate to severe symptoms of depression. Other implications are discussed.