ORIGINAL PAPER Interaction Effects between Maternal Lifetime Depressive/Anxiety Disorders and Correlates of Children’s Externalizing Symptoms Genevie `ve Piche ´ • Lise Bergeron • Mireille Cyr • Claude Berthiaume Published online: 23 October 2010 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010 Abstract We investigated the interaction effects between mother’s lifetime depressive/anxiety disorders and psy- chosocial correlates of 6 to 11 year-old children’s self- reported externalizing symptoms in the Quebec Child Mental Health Survey. A representative subsample of 1,490 Quebec children aged 6 to 11 years was selected from the original sample. We conducted multiple linear regression analyses using externalizing symptoms as reported by children through the Dominic questionnaire and multiple child, family and socioeconomic characteris- tics. Two variables interacted significantly with mother’s lifetime depressive/anxiety disorders to predict 6 to 11 year-old children’s self-reported externalizing symp- toms: physical/sexual abuse and mother’s caring behav- iours. Results underline the main contribution of mother- child relationship and stressful events in the association between mother’s lifetime depressive/anxiety disorders and children’s externalizing symptoms. It is suggested to develop preventive intervention programs oriented towards children of lifetime depressed/anxious parents who also report parent-child relational difficulties. Keywords Maternal depressive/anxiety disorders Á Child psychiatry Á Externalizing symptoms Á Intergenerational transmission Á Psychosocial variables Introduction Parental mental health or psychiatric problems heighten children’s vulnerability to develop internalizing, but also externalizing symptoms and disorders. Results of past epidemiological studies show that the prevalence of externalizing disorders is two to five times more likely in youth of depressed or anxious parents (Bergeron et al. 2000; Ford, Goodman and Meltzer 2004). Associations between parents’ depressive/anxiety disorders and exter- nalizing disorders in children and youths are consistently found across three age-groups: 6–8 years, 9–11 years and 12–14 years (Bergeron et al. 2000). As mental health problems, particularly externalizing behavior symptoms, affect children’s quality of life and healthy development, it is of the utmost importance to gain a better understanding of the nature and strength of the influence of parental depressive/anxiety disorders on children externalizing disorders. Although relatively few studies investigated the mecha- nisms underlying the association between parental depres- sive/anxiety disorders and youth externalizing disorders, researchers generally agree about the main contribution of three family characteristics: parent-child relationship, fam- ily cohesion and marital satisfaction (Elgar et al. 2007; Fendrich et al. 1990; Harnish et al. 1995). Regarding the quality of parent-child relationship, parent-child discord (e.g., arguing, fighting) as well as parental rejection are found to contribute to the development of disruptive disor- ders in children of depressed parents (Fendrich et al. 1990). G. Piche ´(&) Department of Psychoeducation and Psychology, Universite ´ du Que ´bec en Outaouais, 5 rue St-Joseph, bureau J-2224, St-Je ´ro ˆme, QC J7Z 0B7, Canada e-mail: genevieve.piche@uqo.ca L. Bergeron Á M. Cyr Department of Psychology, Universite ´ de Montre ´al, Montreal, QC, Canada L. Bergeron Á C. Berthiaume Research Unit, Rivie `re-des-Prairies Hospital and Fernand- Seguin Research Center, Montreal, QC, Canada 123 J Child Fam Stud (2011) 20:596–604 DOI 10.1007/s10826-010-9433-0