Associations between parental depressive symptoms and video-elicited emotions

Depression is a pervasive mental health disorder characterized by persistent sadness, loss of interest, and impairments in emotional, cognitive, and physical functioning. Disruptions in emotional processing are central, often involving both blunted reactivity to positive or neutral cues, consistent with the Emotion Context Insensitivity (ECI) hypothesis, and heightened reactivity to mood-congruent negative stimuli. Though seemingly contradictory, these processes may together sustain depressive symptoms. This study used validated film clips to elicit fear, happiness, sadness, and anger in a racially and ethnically diverse sample of 440 parents. Participants completed a video rating task and the PHQ-8. Depression severity was not significantly associated with emotional reactivity, though a marginal trend emerged for anger. Participants with minoritized identities reported higher PHQ-8 scores and lower fear ratings than White peers. Race and ethnicity did not moderate the depression-emotion link. Findings underscore the importance of using inclusive emotion elicitation paradigms and highlight the need for further research in diverse parent samples.