Surkan, Pamela J.Kawachi, IchiroRyan, Louise M.Berkman, Lisa F.Vieira, Lina CarvalhoPeterson, Karen E.2019-08-292008Surkan, Pamela J., Ichiro Kawachi, Louise M. Ryan, Lisa F. Berkman, Lina M. Carvalho Vieira, and Karen E. Peterson. 2008. “Maternal Depressive Symptoms, Parenting Self-Efficacy, and Child Growth.” American Journal of Public Health 98 (1): 125–32. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2006.108332.0090-00361541-0048http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:41275464Objectives. We assessed whether maternal depressive symptoms and parenting self-efficacy were associated with child growth delay.Methods. We collected data from a random sample of 595 low-income mothers and their children aged 6 to 24 months in Teresina, Piaui, Brazil, including information on sociodemographic characteristics, mothers' depressive symptoms and parenting self-efficacy, and children's anthropometric characteristics. We used adjusted logistic regression models in our analyses.Results. Depressive symptoms among mothers were associated with 1.8 times higher odds (95% confidence interval [Cl] = 1.1, 2.9) of short stature among children. Parenting self-efficacy was not associated with short stature, nor did it mediate or modify the relationship between depressive symptoms and short stature. Maternal depressive symptoms and self-efficacy were not related to child underweight.Conclusions. Our results showed that among low-income Brazilian families maternal depressive symptoms, but not self-efficacy, were associated with short stature in children aged 6 to 24 months after adjustment for known predictors of growth.en-USJournal Article2019-08-2910.2105/AJPH.2006.108332