COE proposes to analyze the 2009-2012 version of the Baby FACES study, which includes several years of longitudinal data, collected from a nationally representative sample of EHS families, to conduct a study that will support ACF in its mission to inform EHS policy on responding to maternal depression.

COE proposes to conduct secondary analyses on the Baby FACES 2009-2012 data set in order to investigate two over-arching research areas, looking to see whether EHS services impact maternal depressive symptoms and whether changes in those symptoms influence children’s early developmental outcomes (e.g., cognitive and social- emotional development). COE will focus on how EHS policies and practices might promote health for both mother and child. COE proposes to leverage the longitudinal nature of the data and growth curve and structural equation modeling to search for factors that might influence the severity of depressive symptoms in mothers and might impact the relationship between depression and child development. (author abstract)