Childhood depression, stressors and parental depression

Parental divorce, parental depression, and gender differences in adult offspring suicide attempt

Research suggests parental divorce during childhood increases risk of suicide attempt for male but not female offspring. The negative impact on offspring associated with parental divorce may be better explained by parental psychopathology, such as depression. We examined whether adult offspring of parental divorce experience elevated risk of suicide attempt, controlling for parental history of depression, and whether the risk varies by the gender of the offspring. Using the 2001 to 2002 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC), the sample consists of respondents who experienced parental divorce (N = 4895). Multivariable regressions controlled for age, race/ethnicity, income, marital status, and parental history of depression. Females living with their fathers were significantly more likely to report lifetime suicide attempts than females living with their mothers, even after controlling for parental depression. Findings suggest that childhood/adolescent parental divorce may have a stronger impact on suicide attempt risk in female offspring than previously recognized.

Symptoms of depression and anxiety in children: specificity of the hopelessness theory

The common etiology hypothesis proposes that depression and anxiety commonly co-occur because they share etiological factors. This study examined the specificity of the hopelessness theory in the development of depressive and anxious symptoms in children. Students in Grades 3 through 6 (N = 418, 47% boys) completed measures assessing inferential styles about causes, consequences, and the self, depressive symptoms, and anxious symptoms. Six weeks later, children completed measures of depressive symptoms, anxious symptoms, and hassles. All 3 inferential styles interacted with hassles to predict increases in depressive symptoms, although this relation only held for children with low levels of initial symptoms. Inferential styles about consequences and the self also predicted increases in anxious symptoms. Consistent with the common etiology hypothesis, after controlling for the association between depressive and anxious symptoms, the effects of inferential styles about consequences and the self persisted.

Sex differences in the familial transmission of mood disorders

BACKGROUND

Mood disorders exhibit familial transmission due to both environmental and genetic risk factors. Mood disorders are more common in women, yet the role of gender in the familial transmission of mood disorders is unclear. This study examines rates of mood disorder transmission to offspring based on the sex of affected parent, sex of offspring and role of clinical factors, such as childhood abuse history, comorbid psychiatric disorders, and traits of aggression and impulsivity.

METHODS

Risk of transmission of mood disorder to offspring from females and males was compared in a sample of 272 probands with a major mood disorder using generalized estimating equations (GEE). Demographic and clinical characteristics of all male and female probands were compared. Characteristics that differed in probands were entered into the model to obtain an unbiased test of gender differences in transmission rate. Multivariate GEE models, one for male probands and one for female probands, were used to test for risk factors in transmission of mood disorder.

RESULTS

Familial transmission rate of mood disorders from female probands was almost double that of males. There was no difference in transmission to male or female offspring. For male probands, offspring mood disorder was independently associated with earlier age of proband mood disorder onset, greater number of proband years ill, and proband history of childhood abuse. For female probands, offspring mood disorder was associated with higher aggression scores in probands.

LIMITATIONS

We did not directly interview offspring and also had limited data on psychopathology in co-parents. This is a cross-sectional study and cannot account for emergence of illness in offspring in the future.

CONCLUSIONS

The two-fold higher rate of maternal transmission of mood disorder may reflect differences in regulation of maternal and paternal transmission of mood disorder. Future studies need to determine the relative contribution of genetic and non-genetic factors and identify the factors responsible for higher rates of transmission of mood disorders by females with a mood disorder.

Depression in the young, parental depression and parenting stress

OBJECTIVE

To examine the relationship between depression in children and adolescents, parental depression and parenting stress.

METHODS

Fifty-three depressed youths, 9-16 years, were matched for age and gender and compared with 53 non-depressed controls. Depression was diagnosed using the Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents-Revised (DICA-R). Parents completed questionnaires on depression and parenting stress.

RESULTS

Parents of depressed children reported higher parenting stress and were more likely to perceive their children as 'difficult'. Univariate analysis demonstrated a relationship between children's depression and maternal depression but not with paternal depression. This became non-significant with multivariate analysis, implying that maternal depressive symptoms may have been due to caring for a depressed, thus 'difficult' child.

CONCLUSIONS

Depressed youth were more likely to be perceived by mothers as 'difficult' and caused them significant parenting stress. The same phenomenon did not occur among the fathers. Clinicians need to consider the presence of depression among 'difficult' children and look for early depression in mothers of depressed youth.

Mediators of the relation between maternal depressive symptoms and child internalizing and disruptive behavior disorders

Drawing on a normative sample of 224 youth and their biological mothers, this study tested 4 family variables as potential mediators of the relationship between maternal depressive symptoms in early childhood and child psychological outcomes in preadolescence. The mediators examined included mother-child communication, the quality of the mother-child relationship, maternal social support, and stressful life events in the family. The most parsimonious structural equation model suggested that having a more problematic mother-child relationship mediated disruptive behavior-disordered outcomes for youths, whereas less maternal social support mediated the development of internalizing disorders. Gender and race were tested as moderators, but significant model differences did not emerge between boys and girls or between African American and Caucasian youths.

The association between psychopathology in fathers versus mothers and children's internalizing and externalizing behavior problems: a meta-analysis

In light of the selective focus on maternal (vs. paternal) psychopathology as a risk factor for child development, this meta-analysis examines the relative strength of the association between psychopathology in mothers versus fathers and the presence of internalizing and externalizing disorders in children. Associations were stronger between maternal than paternal psychopathology and the presence of internalizing (but not externalizing) problems in children, with all average effect sizes being small in magnitude. Relations were moderated by variables that highlight theoretically relevant differences between psychopathology in mothers versus fathers (e.g., age of children studied, type of parental psychopathology) and by variables related to methodological differences across studies (e.g., method of assessing psychopathology in parents and children, type of sample recruited, familial composition).

Specific life events and chronic experiences differentially associated with depression and anxiety in young twins

Behavioral genetic analyses indicate that environmental influences associated with depression and anxiety are specific to each symptom type; however, this has not been tested specifically in children. Sixty-one (61) child twin pairs in which at least one twin had a very high anxiety or depression score, and 29 nonanxious, nondepressed pairs were interviewed about life events and chronic stressors in the previous 12 months. Loss events, schoolwork stressors, family relationship problems, and friendship problems were all significantly associated with depression but not anxiety. Threat events were significantly associated with anxiety but not depression. Loss events and schoolwork stressors appeared to act as shared environment influences in that they made twin pairs resemble one another. Threat events, friendship problems, and family relationship problems were individual specific and accounted for differences within the pairs. These results clarify the associations between life events and depressive and anxious symptoms in children and adolescents and reveal specific associations previously unidentified in this age range.

Using genetic analyses to clarify the distinction between depressive and anxious symptoms in children

Self-report measures of depression and anxiety in children are highly correlated and distinguishing between shared and independent factors in their etiologies is therefore problematic. The aim of this article was to test whether less correlated measures of depression and anxiety could be produced and, if so, what genetic and environmental factors would account for the variance in these symptoms. Second-order factor analysis of the items from two standardized self-report questionnaires of depression and anxiety collected from 395 pairs of same-sex twins aged 8 to 16 years resulted in purer dimensions of depression and anxiety. Behavioral genetic analyses confirmed the distinction between these two dimensions, and bivariate analyses revealed that the association between the two was primarily accounted for by shared genetic factors.