Background: Mental health outcomes are often passed-down in families, which underscores the importance of understanding mechanisms related to positive health outcomes. We focus on parent-child connectedness, which has been shown to not only decrease children's distress but strengthens their social coping resources. Methods: Utilizing four waves of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a national study of nearly 5000 mostly unmarried parents, we observed the influence of parents' depressive symptoms and thoughts of death (TOD) on their 9-year-old child's self-reported levels of connectedness to their parents. Results: Mothers and fathers reported similar rates of depression over time, with peak symptomology when their child turned 3 years old and declining levels as their children grew older. Compared to children whose mothers reported no symptoms, children whose mothers reported chronic depression and TOD were > 7 times as likely (OR = 8.13, p < 0.001) to report feeling distant from their mother, even if depression and TOD were only periodic (OR = 5.94, p < 0.001) or if their mother only reported depression (OR = 4.00, p = 0.002). Fathers reporting chronic depression earlier in their child's life had the highest odds of low child-reported connectedness (OR = 4.42, p < 0.001), but onset later in their child's lives (ages 5 and 9) also resulted in low reported connectedness from their children (OR = 2.73, p = 0.048). Conclusions: Given the ramifications of parental mental health for parent-child connectedness, upstream prevention approaches, such as screening in pediatricians' offices may be a key objective for mental health promotion. As trusted adults play critical roles in children's lives, universal prevention highlighting family bonds for new parents may be a salient intervention focus.
