“Profiling Parents and Deconstructing Depression: A Unique Combination of Latent Profile Analysis and Growth Mixture Modeling—Manuscript Development after the 2013 SPR Cup Competition”

Parents and families play an important role in the prevention of childhood depression. This study had three major objectives: to 1) determine if there were specific family profiles, 2) identify distinct depression trajectories, and 3) determine if the specific family profiles predicted the probability of membership in the depression trajectories.
Data were drawn from the LIFT intervention, a cluster-randomized trial following children from the 5th grade until their early 20s (n= 361). Six indicators of family-level data were analyzed using Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) to determine the specific family profiles. There were five waves of child depression data ranging from when the child was age 11–16 years. The longitudinal child-level data were analyzed using Growth Mixture Modeling (GMM) to identify the distinct depression trajectories in the sample.
Lastly, a latent transition strategy was then employed to predict the probability of a child having a specific depressive trajectory given their family profile. Results from the LPA indicated four profiles of families: (1) High working, inattentive; (2) Low working, inattentive; (3) Single, working and attentive; and (4) High working, attentive. GMM results indicated three to four depression trajectories, with the number dependent on the type of depression measured. The latent transition strategy analysis showed that most children, regardless of family profile, transitioned into a low and unchanging depression trajectory. However, children of low working, inattentive mothers had an approximately 25% chance of transitioning into another depression trajectory, indicating that they experienced some degree of depressive symptoms. More so, children of single, working attentive mothers had an approximately 20% chance of transitioning into a depression trajectory other than low and unchanging. Lastly, children of high working, attentive mothers had a 20% chance of transitioning into an improved Social Depression (aggression-related) trajectory. Overall, the study highlights the importance of tailoring interventions to family characteristics and shows that certain parenting skills may be more relevant for specific kinds of depression.