Pathways to Adolescent Depression and Cigarette Smoking: A Longitudinal Investigation of Chilean Mothers and Their Children

Scant research has been conducted in Latin America regarding the influence of maternal depression on adolescent risk behaviors. To better understand the link between maternal influences on youth outcomes with Latin American families, the longitudinal influence of maternal depression and smoking on adolescent smoking and depressive symptoms was examined with a sample from Santiago, Chile. Participants were 659 mother-adolescent pairs (adolescent mean age = 14.3, SD = 0.1) who took part in the National Institute on Drug Abuse-funded Santiago Longitudinal Study. Mothers' depression and cigarette smoking were assessed when children were 10 years old and again at ages 12 to 17. Adolescents' depressive symptoms and cigarette smoking were assessed at time 2 (T2). Structural equation models exploring longitudinal and concurrent relationships of maternal depression, cigarette use, and parenting with adolescent depressive symptoms and cigarette use were fit. Maternal depression at time 1 predicted adolescent depressive symptoms at T2 indirectly through maternal depression and parenting at T2. Maternal cigarette use and maternal reports of adolescent depressive symptoms predicted adolescent smoking. Maternal depression had long-lasting and simultaneous effects on adolescent depression and cigarette smoking. Addressing maternal depression may reduce the intergenerational transmission and development of adolescent depressive symptoms and smoking.