Impact of maternal depression trajectories on offspring socioemotional competences at age 11: 2004 Pelotas Birth Cohort

•Persistent maternal depression after birth was associated with offspring´s socioemotional difficulties at age 11.•Adolescents from persistent depressive mothers had high levels of peer relationship problems.•Low levels of prosocial behaviour were also associated with persistent maternal depression.•These associations were not explained by socioeconomic, family, and child characteristics.•Maternal depression during adolescent's life was not a predictor of locus of control orientation. Maternal depression is associated with impairments in child behavioural and emotional development, although the effect of exposure to maternal depression until adolescence is underexplored in most studies. This longitudinal study examined the association between maternal depressive symptoms trajectories and offspring socioemotional competences at age 11. We included 3,437 11-year-old adolescents from the 2004 Pelotas Birth Cohort Study. Maternal depressive symptoms were assessed during the follow-up waves. Adolescent socioemotional competences were peer relationship problems and prosocial behaviour, both assessed by Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), and Locus of Control (LoC), assessed by Nowick-Strickland Internal-External Scale. We used multivariate linear and logistic regression models to examine the effects of maternal depression trajectories on offspring's socioemotional competences, adjusting for potential confounding variables. We identified five trajectories of maternal depressive symptoms: a “low” trajectory (32.6%), a “moderate low” (42.2%), a “increasing” (11.1%), a “decreasing” (9.2%), and a “high-chronic” trajectory (4.9%). Adolescents whose mothers had persistent depressive symptoms, either intermediate or high, had greater levels of peer relationship problems and lower levels of prosocial behaviour than those whose mothers had low depressive symptoms. These differences were not explained by socioeconomic, maternal, and child characteristics. Maternal depressive symptoms during offspring's life was not a predictor of LoC orientation. Nearly 20% of original cohort were not included in the analysis due to missing data. Adolescent's socioemotional competences were ascertained by maternal report. Our study extended the evidences of the negative impact of severe and recurrent maternal depression on offspring's socioemotional competences until early adolescence.