Effects of mother–child interaction on school adaptation of children according to maternal depression

Objective Factors influencing school adaptation of school-aged children include both executive function (EF) and parent–child interaction. This study aims to investigate the developmental trajectory of mother–child interaction longitudinally using latent growth model analysis. Methods A longitudinal descriptive survey study was conducted. The participants comprised of 1,614 mothers and school-aged children, who participated in the Panel Study on Korean Children (6th–8th panel surveys). A model was designed and analyzed using latent growth modeling to estimate the pattern of change over time. Results In the group where the maternal depression was within the normal range, only the path by which the change rate of mother–child interaction affected school adaptation of children was statistically nonsignificant (t = 1.007, p = 0.314). In the group where maternal depression was mild or higher, only the paths by which the initial value of mother–child interaction affected EF difficulty (t = −2.75, p = 0.032) and EF difficulty affected school adaptation (t = −7.876, p < 0.001) were statistically significant. Conclusions This study confirms the research models developed by dividing mother–child interaction into two groups according to depression levels (i.e., normal range and mild or higher-level depression). The findings provide a basis for construction of individualized interventions.