Raised by depressed parents: is it an environmental risk?

How do early affiliative memories explain body image shame? A 12-month longitudinal study in adolescent girls

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to explain adolescent girls' body image shame across a 12- month longitudinal design, and its relationship with early parental memories of warmth and safeness and fear of receiving compassion from others.

DESIGN AND METHODS

Participants included 231 adolescent girls, who completed self-report measures at three different periods: baseline (W1), 6-month follow-up (W2), and 12-month follow-up (W3). Descriptive and correlational analyses were performed, and differences between participants at the different waves were explored through repeated measures ANOVA. A cross-lagged panel model tested the mediational effect of fears of receiving compassion on the association between early affiliative memories (W1) and body image shame (W3).

RESULTS

ANOVA results found significant differences throughout time in memories of warmth and safeness (tending to diminish) and in body image shame (tending to rise). Correlation analysis revealed that all variables were significantly associated in the expected directions, across the three waves. Finally, path analysis revealed that early affiliative parental memories (in W1) had a direct effect on body image shame (in W3), through the fear of receiving compassion from others (in W2), accounting for 85% of body image shame's variance (W3).

CONCLUSIONS

These findings indicate that the lack of early affiliative memories often leads to the development of defensive mechanisms such as fears of receiving compassion from others which in turn can foster isolation and distant relationships, enhancing feelings of inferiority and inadequacy, which in female adolescents can emerge centered on body image - body image shame. This study further highlights the importance of prevention and intervention strategies based on compassion to specifically target fears of receiving compassion from others, in adolescent girls dealing with feelings of inferiority and shame regarding their body.

Impacts of a tiered intervention on child internalizing and externalizing behavior in the context of maternal depression

Greater maternal depressive symptoms are consistently associated with higher levels of behavioral difficulties in children, emerging in early childhood and with long-lasting consequences for children's development. Interventions promoting early relational health have been shown to have benefits for children's behavior; however, these impacts are not always realized in the context of maternal depression. This study examined whether tiered programs could address this limitation by focusing on both parenting, through universal primary prevention, and psychosocial stressors and parent mental health, through tailored secondary prevention. Analysis of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of the Smart Beginnings (SB) intervention was conducted to determine whether SB attenuated the association between maternal depression and early childhood internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Maternal depression significantly predicted both internalizing and externalizing behaviors in linear regression models. Further, there was a significant interaction between maternal depression and treatment group, such that among mothers with higher depressive symptoms, the SB treatment attenuated the magnitude of the association between depression and child behavior. Findings suggest that while parenting support is important for all families, it may be particularly critical for those with higher levels of depression and underscores the need to consider multidimensional family processes in both research and clinical practice.

Maternal aggressive behavior in interactions with adolescent offspring: Proximal social-cognitive predictors in depressed and nondepressed mothers

Maternal depressive symptoms are associated with elevations in harsh parenting behavior, including criticism, negative affect, and hostile or coercive behavior, and these behaviors contribute to associations between maternal depressive symptomatology and child functioning. We used multilevel survival analysis to examine social-cognitive processes as proximal predictors of the onset and offset of maternal aggressive behavior during interactions with their adolescent children. Low-income women (N = 180) were selected for either: (a) elevated depressive symptoms and a history of treatment for depression (depressed group) or (b) not more than mild levels of current depressive symptomatology, no history of depression treatment, and no current mental health treatment (nondepressed group). These women and their adolescent children (ages 11-14, M = 12.93; 96 male sex, as assigned at birth) participated in a dyadic problem-solving interaction and mothers completed a video-mediated recall procedure, in which they watched a segment of the interaction, labeled their adolescents' affect, and made attributions for their behavior. Mothers in the depressed group were more likely to initiate aggressive behavior and, once initiated, were less likely to transition out of it. Mothers in both groups were less likely to transition out of aggressive behavior when they made negative attributions for their adolescents' behavior. Findings point to promising cognitive and behavioral targets for intervention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Effects of parental mental health and family environment on impulsivity in preadolescents: a longitudinal ABCD study®

Introduction

Impulsivity is a known risk factor for the development of substance use disorders and other psychiatric conditions that is influenced by both genetics and environment. Although research has linked parental mental health to children's impulsivity, potential mediators of this relationship remain understudied. The current investigation leverages the large national Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study to assess the mediating role of family conflict - an important social context for youth development - in the relationship between parental mental health and youth impulsivity.

Methods

Data were from the first three annual waves of the ABCD study (Baseline N = 11,876 children, Mage = 9.9 years; 48% female; 52% White). Parental mental health conditions were self-reported internalizing, externalizing, and total problems. Youth completed the family conflict scale, and Urgency, Planning (lack of), Perseverance (lack of), Sensation Seeking, and Positive Urgency (UPPS-P) scale to measure impulsivity. To determine if within-family change in conflict from baseline to year 1 explained changes in the strength of relations between baseline parental mental health and year 2 youth impulsivity, longitudinal causal mediation analyses were conducted, controlling for demographic factors (i.e., age, sex, race, household income, parental education, marital status), as well as baseline levels of family conflict and outcomes. Separate mediation models were run for each mental health condition and each UPPS-P subscale.

Results

Above and beyond bivariate relations, longitudinal mediation models, which included covariates, showed family conflict significantly (ps < 0.001) mediated relations between all three parental mental health conditions and all but one (i.e., sensation seeking) UPPS-P subscales. The proportion mediated through family conflict for internalizing problems and total problems on facets of impulsivity (except sensation seeking) ranged from 9% (for lack of perseverance) to 17% (for lack of planning). Proportion mediated via family conflict for externalizing problems on youth's impulsivity (except sensation seeking) was slightly higher, ranging between 13% (lack of perseverance) to 21% (lack of planning).

Discussion

Family conflict may be an important intergenerational factor linking parental mental health and youth's impulsivity. Addressing parental mental health and family conflict may help curb increased impulsivity in youth, and in turn reduce adolescent substance use disorders.

Maternal engagement, relational closeness, and adolescent internalizing symptoms: The association of engaged mothering with adolescent depression and anxiety

Prevalence rates of anxiety and depression have increased among adolescents in recent years. The etiology of these internalizing symptoms is complex, but mothers can play a role in the mental health of their adolescent children. Using data from Year 15 of the fragile families and child well-being study, we analyzed associations between adolescent-reported maternal engagement, mother-adolescent relationship closeness, and adolescent depression and anxiety in a sample of 3146 mother-adolescent dyads. Using structural equation modeling, the four areas of engagement, closeness, anxiety, and depression were all modeled as latent variables to test the associations between these constructs. Higher levels of maternal engagement were significantly associated with higher levels of closeness between mother and adolescent, and higher levels of closeness were significantly associated with adolescents' lower levels of both depression and anxiety. Bootstrapped indirect effects were identified. Implications and future directions are discussed.

The impact of paternal mental illness on child development: an umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses

Whilst there is growing evidence highlighting the importance of paternal mental illness (PMI) on child development, this relationship still remains under-studied and often over-looked. Considering the increasingly active role of fathers in their children's upbringing, a comprehensive overview of the impact of PMI on child development is overdue. This study aimed to combine and synthesise currently available evidence on the relationship between PMI and multiple domains of child development. Narrative synthesis of systematic reviews and meta-analyses on the relationship between PMI and child development (mental health and social, emotional, language, cognitive or adaptive behaviour), published between 1980 to December 2021, was conducted in line with PRISMA 2020 guidelines. Review quality was assessed based on AMSTAR-2 criteria and respective study confidence was interpreted in line with GRADE scoring. All relevant meta-analytic effect sizes were converted to odds ratios (OR) and grouped using a random effects model. Grouped meta-analyses saw PMI to have a significant, detrimental effect on all studied domains of child development [OR: 1.54; 95% CI (1.36-1.74)]. Subgroup analyses saw PMI affecting both internalising [OR: 1.62; 95% CI (1.27-2.08)] and externalising [OR: 1.63; 95% CI (1.28-2.08)] child behaviours to a similar extent. However, included reviews were of poor methodological quality, demonstrating either low or critically low confidence. These results show a consistent and influential effect of PMI on child development. The relationship between fathers' mental illness and child development warrants further investigation, as current research is limited in scope, particularly regarding cognitive domains of child development and non-affective PMI diagnoses.

Preschoolers' emotion reactivity and regulation: Links with maternal psychological distress and child behavior problems

Maladaptive offspring emotion regulation has been identified as one pathway linking maternal and child psychological well-being in school-aged children. Whether such a pathway is present earlier in life still remains unclear. The present study investigated the role of preschoolers' emotion reactivity and regulation in the association between maternal psychological distress and child internalizing and externalizing problems. Children's emotion reactivity and regulation were assessed through both observed behavior and physiology. At 42 months of age, children (n = 251; 128 girls) completed a fear induction task during which their heart-rate variability was assessed and their behavior was monitored, and maternal self-reports on depressive mood and anxiety were collected. At 48 months mothers and fathers reported on their children's internalizing and externalizing problems. Higher maternal depressive mood was associated with lower child fear-related reactivity and regulation, as indexed by heart-rate variability. The latter mediated the association between higher maternal depressive mood and higher preschoolers' externalizing problems. Overall, our findings support the role of preschoolers' emotion reactivity and regulation in the relationship between maternal psychological distress and children's socio-emotional difficulties. This role may also depend on the discrete emotion to which children react or seek to regulate as, here, we only assessed fear-related reactivity and regulation.

Annual Research Review: Towards a deeper understanding of nature and nurture: combining family-based quasi-experimental methods with genomic data

Distinguishing between the effects of nature and nurture constitutes a major research goal for those interested in understanding human development. It is known, for example, that many parent traits predict mental health outcomes in children, but the causal processes underlying such associations are often unclear. Family-based quasi-experimental designs such as sibling comparison, adoption and extended family studies have been used for decades to distinguish the genetic transmission of risk from the environmental effects family members potentially have on one another. Recently, these designs have been combined with genomic data, and this combination is fuelling a range of exciting methodological advances. In this review we explore these advances - highlighting the ways in which they have been applied to date and considering what they are likely to teach us in the coming years about the aetiology and intergenerational transmission of psychopathology.

Relationship between anxiety and depressive trajectories of women who conceived through assisted reproductive technology and their children's emotional and behavioral problems: A prospective cohort study

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to examine the relationship between the anxiety and depressive trajectory of women conceived through assisted reproductive technology (ART) and their children's emotional and behavioral problems.

METHODS

This prospective cohort study including 18,711 women, was conducted between July 2014 and December 2017. Self-rating scales for anxiety and depression were used before treatment, during the first trimester, and two to three years postpartum. A latent class growth analysis identified their maternal anxiety and depressive symptom trajectories. Multiple comparison and linear regression models were performed to assess the relationships between maternal trajectories and their offspring's emotional and behavioral problems.

RESULTS

Three longitudinal heterogeneous trajectories of maternal anxiety and depressive symptoms were identified: resilient, recurrent, and emergent. After adjusting for covariates, children with mothers in the recurrent and emergent trajectory groups had higher Child Behavior Checklist/2-3 scores. Additionally, the participants with a recurrent trajectory had lower education and employment levels and younger maternal age at delivery. They also had a history of ovarian surgery, primipara, secondary infertility, polycystic ovary syndrome, and more embryo transferred cycles, including intracytoplasmic sperm injections. Those with resilient trajectories had higher antral follicle counts and GnRH antagonist protocol. Finally, the participants with emergent trajectories had a lower monthly income, primipara, ectopic pregnancy, and fresh embryo transfers.

CONCLUSIONS

Infertile women's psychological stress was not alleviated by the ART-sociodemographic, infertility-related and treatment-related characteristics determined three mental health trajectories. Children with mothers in recurrent and emergent trajectories showed higher odds of experiencing emotional and behavioral problems.

Disentangling the multigenerational transmissions of socioeconomic disadvantages and mental health problems by gender and across lineages: Findings from the Stockholm Birth Cohort Multigenerational Study

There is a paucity of research examining the patterning of socioeconomic disadvantages and mental health problems across multiple generations. The current study therefore aimed to investigate the interconnected transmissions of socioeconomic disadvantages and mental health problems from grandparents to grandchildren through the parents, as well as the extent to which these transmissions differ according to lineage (i.e., through matrilineal/patrilineal descent) and grandchild gender. Drawing on the Stockholm Birth Cohort Multigenerational Study, the sample included 21,416 unique lineages by grandchild gender centered around cohort members born in 1953 (parental generation) as well as their children (grandchild generation) and their parents (grandparental generation). Based on local and national register data, socioeconomic disadvantages were operationalized as low income, and mental health problems as psychiatric disorders. A series of path models based on structural equation modelling were applied to estimate the associations between low income and psychiatric disorders across generations and for each lineage-gender combination. We found a multigenerational transmission of low income through the patriline to grandchildren. Psychiatric disorders were transmitted through both the patriline and matriline, but only to grandsons. The patriline-grandson transmission of psychiatric disorder partially operated via low income of the fathers. Furthermore, grandparents' psychiatric disorders influenced their children's and grandchildren's income. We conclude that there is evidence of transmissions of socioeconomic disadvantages and mental health problems across three generations, although these transmissions differ by lineage and grandchild gender. Our findings further highlight that grandparents' mental health problems could cast a long shadow on their children's and grandchildren's socioeconomic outcomes, and that socioeconomic disadvantages in the intermediate generation may play an important role for the multigenerational transmission of mental health problems.

Early pathways of maternal mentalization: Associations with child development in the FinnBrain birth cohort study

Parental mentalization refers to a parents' capacity and interest to consider the individual experience and mental state underlying the behaviors of the child. Higher mentalization is considered a key aspect for parental sensitivity in interaction, fostering child's socioemotional and self-regulatory development. Yet, previous studies have not examined the dynamic pathways through which the maternal mentalization may develop, nor their effects on child development. Thus, in the current person-oriented study, first, we identify distinct profiles and longitudinal trajectories of maternal mentalization from pregnancy to child's 2 years of age. Second, we test how the profiles and trajectories associate with children's internalizing and externalizing problems, social-emotional competence and effortful control at the age of 2 years. Third, we examine how the profiles and trajectories associate with contextual demographic and child related. The substudy was part of the FinnBrain Birth Cohort and included families from general population (n = 2,687). Mothers reported their parental reflective functioning (PRF) at late pregnancy, 6 months and 2 years of child's age. Both mothers (n = 1,437) and fathers (n = 715) reported the developmental child outcomes at the child's age of 2 years. Latent Profile Analysis and Latent Transition Analysis were used to identify PRF profiles and trajectories. The results showed decreasing heterogeneity in PRF from pregnancy to child's age of 6 months and 2 years (i.e., four, three and two latent classes, respectively). Most mothers progressed towards high PRF over time. Second, the profiles and trajectories depicting high PRF associated with child high social-emotional competence at the age of 2 years, yet no clear positive effects were found on child's problems and effortful control. The group of mixed PRF trajectories showed strongest association with child's internalizing and externalizing problems. Finally, there were theoretically meaningful associations between the PRF trajectories and both the contextual (e.g., parity) and child related (e.g., infant temperament) factors. This was the first study to explore the early unfolding of maternal mentalization. The results are discussed in relation with the potential mechanisms accounting for child development and with the nature and limitations of self-reported parental mentalization.

Developmental profiles of child behavior problems from 18 months to 8 years: The protective effects of structured parenting vary by genetic risk

Some children are more affected by specific family environments than others, as a function of differences in their genetic make-up. However, longitudinal studies of genetic moderation of parenting effects during early childhood have not been conducted. We examined developmental profiles of child behavior problems between 18 months and age 8 in a longitudinal parent-offspring sample of 361 adopted children. In toddlerhood (18 months), observed structured parenting indexed parental guidance in service of task goals. Biological parent psychopathology served as an index of genetic influences on children's behavior problems. Four profiles of child behavior problems were identified: low stable (11%), average stable (50%), higher stable (29%), and high increasing (11%). A multinominal logistic regression analysis indicated a genetically moderated effect of structured parenting, such that for children whose biological mother had higher psychopathology, the odds of the child being in the low stable group increased as structured parenting increased. Conversely, for children whose biological mother had lower psychopathology, the odds of being in the low stable group was reduced when structured parenting increased. Results suggest that increasing structured parenting is an effective strategy for children at higher genetic risk for psychopathology, but may be detrimental for those at lower genetic risk.

Healthy emotions and relationships with teens-a guide for parents: An intervention development study of a parent-based intervention for adolescents with depression

Problems in parent-adolescent relationships are a significant risk factor for the development of depression in adolescents. This paper describes the development of a novel and innovative intervention for parents of depressed adolescents that targets attachment-related parenting behaviors, including parent responses to adolescents' emotions (Healthy Emotions and Relationships with Teens-A Guide for Parents [HEART-P]; Reigstad, 2017) and provides results of an open pilot study that was conducted to assess the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention. 15 parents/parent dyads of adolescents (age 12-18) with a depression diagnosis (14 mothers, and one father) participated in a 10-week open trial of HEART-P. Data regarding acceptability and feasibility were collected. Self-report measures of parenting, stress, family relationships, and adolescent depression were also completed by parents at baseline, week 10, and 2 months post-intervention. Parents completed the intervention with 100% adherence to the protocol and expressed high levels of satisfaction. Parents reported reductions in parenting stress, improvement in the quality of their relationship with their adolescent, and improvement in the perception of their parenting skills, with effect sizes in the medium to large range. Adolescents reported reductions in depression, with effect sizes in the small to medium range. Outcomes appear positive and promising, and the intervention was feasible to implement and acceptable to families. Conducting a full-scale randomized control trial to evaluate the efficacy of this newly developed intervention is warranted and timely given the public health need for improved depression treatment outcomes.

Illuminating the origins of the intergenerational transmission of psychopathology with a novel genetically informed design

Although it is well known that parental depression is transmitted within families across generations, the etiology of this transmission remains unclear. Our goal was to develop a novel study design capable of explicitly examining the etiologic sources of intergenerational transmission. We specifically leveraged naturally-occurring variations in genetic relatedness between parents and their adolescent children in the 720 families participating in the Nonshared Environment in Adolescent Development (NEAD) study, 58.5% of which included a rearing stepparent (nearly always a stepfather). Results pointed squarely to the environmental transmission of psychopathology between fathers and children. Paternal depression was associated with adolescent depression and adolescent behavior problems (i.e., antisocial behavior, headstrong behavior, and attention problems) regardless of whether or not fathers and their children were genetically related. Moreover, these associations persisted to a subset of "blended" families in which the father was biologically related to one participating child but not to the other, and appeared to be mediated via father-child conflict. Such findings are not only fully consistent with the environmental transmission of psychopathology across generations, but also add to extant evidence that parent-child conflict is a robust and at least partially environmental predictor of adolescent psychopathology.

The association between paternal depression and adolescent internalising problems: A test of parenting style as a mediating pathway

Whilst there is a large evidence base demonstrating the impact of maternal depression on the development of adolescent internalising problems, less is known about the association between paternal depression and adolescent internalising problems, and the mechanisms through which risk is conferred. This study examined the association between paternal depression and adolescent internalising problems, investigating parenting style as a pathway through which this association may be mediated. Participants included 4048 families taking part in the Growing Up in Ireland child cohort study. Self-report measures of paternal depression were completed when the study child was aged 9. Adolescents assessed paternal demandingness, responsiveness and autonomy granting at the age of 13. Adolescent internalising symptoms were measured at the age of 17/18 by the primary caregiver. A parallel multiple mediator model was used to test the total and specific indirect effects of the three parenting styles, whilst controlling for covariates and other mediators in the model. A direct effect of paternal depression on adolescent internalising problems was found (B = .051, 95% CI: 0.020, 0.083). However, no support for mediation via any of the paternal parenting styles (i.e., responsiveness, demandingness, or autonomy-granting) were found. These findings build on an emerging evidence-base demonstrating a specific direct association between paternal depression and adolescent internalising problems, and suggest that interventions ought to also target fathers suffering from depression to help reduce the risk of adolescent internalising problems.

Parenting in the Context of the Child: Genetic and Social Processes

The focus on the role of parenting in child development has a long-standing history. When measures of parenting precede changes in child development, researchers typically infer a causal role of parenting practices and attitudes on child development. However, this research is usually conducted with parents raising their own biological offspring. Such research designs cannot account for the effects of genes that are common to parents and children, nor for genetically influenced traits in children that influence how they are parented and how parenting affects them. The aim of this monograph is to provide a clearer view of parenting by synthesizing findings from the Early Growth and Development Study (EGDS). EGDS is a longitudinal study of adopted children, their birth parents, and their rearing parents studied across infancy and childhood. Families (N = 561) were recruited in the United States through adoption agencies between 2000 and 2010. Data collection began when adoptees were 9 months old (males = 57.2%; White 54.5%, Black 13.2%, Hispanic/Latinx 13.4%, Multiracial 17.8%, other 1.1%). The median child age at adoption placement was 2 days (M = 5.58, SD = 11.32). Adoptive parents were predominantly in their 30s, White, and coming from upper-middle- or upper-class backgrounds with high educational attainment (a mode at 4-year college or graduate degree). Most adoptive parents were heterosexual couples, and were married at the beginning of the project. The birth parent sample was more racially and ethnically diverse, but the majority (70%) were White. At the beginning of the study, most birth mothers and fathers were in their 20s, with a mode of educational attainment at high school degree, and few of them were married. We have been following these family members over time, assessing their genetic influences, prenatal environment, rearing environment, and child development. Controlling for effects of genes common to parents and children, we confirmed some previously reported associations between parenting, parent psychopathology, and marital adjustment in relation to child problematic and prosocial behavior. We also observed effects of children's heritable characteristics, characteristics thought to be transmitted from parent to child by genetic means, on their parents and how those effects contributed to subsequent child development. For example, we found that genetically influenced child impulsivity and social withdrawal both elicited harsh parenting, whereas a genetically influenced sunny disposition elicited parental warmth. We found numerous instances of children's genetically influenced characteristics that enhanced positive parental influences on child development or that protected them from harsh parenting. Integrating our findings, we propose a new, genetically informed process model of parenting. We posit that parents implicitly or explicitly detect genetically influenced liabilities and assets in their children. We also suggest future research into factors such as marital adjustment, that favor parents responding with appropriate protection or enhancement. Our findings illustrate a productive use of genetic information in prevention research: helping parents respond effectively to a profile of child strengths and challenges rather than using genetic information simply to identify some children unresponsive to current preventive interventions.

Trajectories of early childhood family instability and the development of externalizing behaviors from middle childhood to adolescence: A prospective study of at-risk families

This study examined associations between trajectories of family instability across early childhood and trajectories of externalizing behaviors from middle childhood to adolescence. Growth mixture models were fit to annual caregiver reports of instability from child ages 2-5 (N = 731; 49% girls, 50% White). A curve of factors model was fit to externalizing behaviors from child ages 7.5-14. Chronic, elevated instability across early childhood predicted elevated externalizing behaviors from middle childhood to adolescence. Data collection spanned from 2002 to 2017. Increasing or declining levels of instability predicted elevated externalizing behaviors in middle to late childhood, but not in adolescence. Caregiver depressive symptoms mediated the association between instability and the externalizing behavior intercept. Intervening on chronic instability may reduce child externalizing problems.

Who's Influencing Who? Adolescent Symptomatology and Caregiver Mindful Parenting

Mindful parenting is linked to positive youth emotion regulation, mental health, and parent-child relationship quality. We examined bidirectional relations between adolescent mental health and mindful parenting among a diverse sample of 249 7th grade students and their female (N = 232) and male caregivers (N = 120). We conducted multiple-group cross-lagged models (grouped by adolescent sex). Female adolescents' externalizing symptoms predicted decreased female caregiver mindful parenting six months later, but male and female adolescent externalizing behaviors were negatively associated with male caregivers' mindful parenting one year later. Findings suggest mindful parenting capacities are vulnerable to disruption via adolescent problem behavior. Mindful parenting's potential benefits, caveats, and need to support parent efforts to sustain mindful parenting amidst adolescents' externalizing behaviors are discussed.

Exposure to prenatal maternal distress and infant white matter neurodevelopment

The prenatal period represents a critical time for brain growth and development. These rapid neurological advances render the fetus susceptible to various influences with life-long implications for mental health. Maternal distress signals are a dominant early life influence, contributing to birth outcomes and risk for offspring psychopathology. This prospective longitudinal study evaluated the association between prenatal maternal distress and infant white matter microstructure. Participants included a racially and socioeconomically diverse sample of 85 mother-infant dyads. Prenatal distress was assessed at 17 and 29 weeks' gestational age (GA). Infant structural data were collected via diffusion tensor imaging at 42-45 weeks' postconceptional age. Findings demonstrated that higher prenatal maternal distress at 29 weeks' GA was associated with increased fractional anisotropy (b = .283, t(64) = 2.319, p = .024) and with increased axial diffusivity (b = .254, t(64) = 2.067, p = .043) within the right anterior cingulate white matter tract. No other significant associations were found with prenatal distress exposure and tract fractional anisotropy or axial diffusivity at 29 weeks' GA, nor earlier in gestation.

The codevelopment of adolescents' and parents' anxiety and depression: Moderating influences of youth gender and psychophysiology

METHODS

In a 2-year longitudinal study of 220 families, we examined how youth gender and adrenocortical and parasympathetic activity moderated reciprocal, bidirectional relations between parent and youth anxiety and depression problems.

RESULTS

Maternal anxiety predicted subsequent youth anxiety and depression. Maternal depression predicted youth anxiety and, for daughters and youth with low adrenocortical reactivity, youth depression. Youth depression predicted maternal depression only for youth with high adrenocortical reactivity. There were no associations between paternal and youth psychopathology.

DISCUSSION

Examining youth gender and psychophysiological characteristics that shape the nature of bidirectional influences may inform efforts to identify families at heightened risk for intergenerational transmission of psychopathology.

Longitudinal Coupling of Depression in Parent-Adolescent Dyads: Within- and Between-Dyad Effects Over Time

The present work evaluated reciprocal, within-dyad associations between parent-adolescent depressive symptoms across two independent samples (N=327 and N=435 dyads, respectively; approximately 85% biological mothers) assessed every three months for two (Study 1) to three (Study 2) years. Results of random intercept cross-lagged panel models converged to support positive contemporaneous patterns of co-fluctuation in parent and adolescent depression, such that within-person deviations in parental depression were associated with same direction within-person deviations in adolescent depression at the same timepoint. In contrast, within-person fluctuations in parent depression did not predict prospective within-person fluctuations in adolescent depression, or vice versa, across the follow-up period. Results held across boys and girls, as well as dyads with and without a parental history of depressive disorder. Overall, findings advance knowledge by demonstrating that, after accounting for between-person/dyad variance, parent and adolescent depression demonstrate contemporaneous co-fluctuations, but do not demonstrate within-dyad reciprocity over time.

Pathways from maternal depressive symptoms to children's academic performance in adolescence: A 13-year prospective-longitudinal study

The pathways through which exposure to maternal depressive symptoms in early childhood are linked to academic performance during adolescence are poorly understood. This study tested pathways from maternal depressive symptoms (age 2–5) to adolescent academic performance (age 15) through cumulative parenting risk (age 7) and subsequent child functioning (age 10), using multi‐informant data from a prospective longitudinal community study spanning 13 years (N = 389, 47% male, 68% White). Structural equation models testing indirect effects revealed small associations between maternal depressive symptoms and increased cumulative parenting risk and poorer child functioning, and, via these pathways, with poorer academic performance. Thus, childhood exposure to maternal depressive symptoms may be associated with pathways of risk that could limit children's educational opportunities.

Parental Depression and Contextual Selection: The Case of School Choice

Parental depression constricts children's development, but the mechanisms implicated-beyond daily parenting tactics-remain unknown. Today, parents must evaluate and select environmental contexts for child-rearing within increasingly complex residential and educational markets. Depression may hamper parents' abilities to navigate this terrain, constraining information collection and impairing child-oriented decision-making. In turn, depressed parents' children may lack access to developmentally enriching neighborhood, school, and child care settings. K-12 school sorting offers a strategic case to assess these expectations, given proliferating nontraditional options and school quality data. Analyses using the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey (N = 2,754) linked to administrative data suggest that depressed parents' children attend magnet, charter, or private schools at lower rates than similarly situated children of nondepressed parents; depression-based disparities appear largest among Latino and Black families. The study motivates future research examining whether the depression-contextual selection link mediates intergenerational processes and exacerbates segregation.

The multidimensionality of inter-parental conflict on aggression and mental health among adolescents

The research sets out to reveal that multidimensionality of inter-parental conflict is a limitation in the direction of research which suggests that inter-parental conflict is a risk factor to poor mental health and aggression in adolescents. To validate the above assertion, 394 adolescents (227 males; mean age = 15.6, SD = 1.74) were purposively sampled for the study. Two hypotheses were formulated and tested and data were analyzed using the multiple regression analysis and Multivariate Analysis of Variance/Analysis of Variance (MANOVA/ANOVA) statistics. Results indicated that all dimensions of inter-parental conflict and its full scale had a significantly positive correlation with aggression while all dimensions of inter-parental conflict had a significant negative correlation with adolescents' mental health. Results further showed that all dimensions of inter-parental conflict jointly associated with aggression but only the dimensions of frequency and intensity independently related with aggression. All dimensions of inter-parental conflict jointly related with mental health while intensity, resolution, coping efficacy and self-blame dimensions independently associated with mental health of adolescents. Based on the above, the researchers recommended that the dimensionality of inter-parental conflict should be considered in further research and that intervention programs should aim at promoting positive family relationship, reducing family stress and promoting positive mental health as adolescents grow and develop in the course of time.

Early-life exposure to parental mental distress and adulthood depression among middle-aged and elderly Chinese

Although mental illness among the middle-aged and the elderly has become a global public health issue and there is a burgeoning interest in the intergenerational transmission of mental health concerns in recent years, the long-term impact of parental mental health problems on child mental health conditions in developing countries remains unknown. Using the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), which provides both contemporaneous and retrospective data collected from a nationally representative sample of Chinese residents aged 45 years and above, this study employed a multilevel modeling approach to investigate the association between early-life exposure to parental mental distress and adulthood depression among the middle-aged and elderly Chinese. Our study showed that childhood parental mental health problems predicted mid- and late-life depression in Chinese contexts and the result remained robust to a suite of robustness checks. Our exploration of potential pathways of the relationship found the following adversities that were associated with the exposure to parental mental distress in early life and may have contributed to the depression among the middle-aged and elderly: higher rates of childhood physical abuse by parents, poor childhood health, lower levels of educational attainment, poor physical health and individual economic status in adulthood. Further, our heterogeneity analysis indicated that the transmission effect was stronger for the elderly than the middle-aged and that the improvement of childhood SES mitigated the intergenerational transmission. We also found that childhood parental mental distress was potentially a moderator, which inhibited the recovery from depression. The findings will inform the design, implementation, and evaluation of relevant public health policies. It highlights the need for more efforts to prevent and mitigate the profound impacts of childhood parental mental distress on the late-life well-being of child generations.

Parent and Peer Emotion Responsivity Styles: An Extension of Gottman's Emotion Socialization Parenting Typologies

This theoretical paper introduces six emotion socialization typologies that can be used for designating emotion responsivity styles of parents and peers of children in middle childhood, referred to as Parent and Peer Emotion Responsivity Styles (PPERS). This typology draws on theoretical foundations of meta-emotion and emotion socialization. These typologies are compliment with and extend Gottman's emotion-based parenting styles, as they are organized generally by whether the response is more positive or more negative and whether the response is more emotionally constructive or destructive, but extend the four styles to include whether the parent or peer targets the emotion directly when responding to a child's emotions, or whether they target the emotion-related behavior. On the positive end, there is the Emotion Constructive style, which targets the child's emotions directly. The other two positive styles include Emotion Responsive and Emotion Acceptive, which target the child's emotional behaviors with higher or lower levels of activity. On the negative side, there is the Emotion Destructive style which is employed to target the emotion itself, while the Emotion Punitive and Emotion Dismissive styles target the child's emotion-related behavior with varying levels of activity. Implications for the development and study of these theoretical typologies are discussed.

Caregivers' joint depressive symptoms and preschoolers' daily routines in Chinese three-generation families: Does household chaos matter?

The benefits of routines for children have been consistently demonstrated in previous literature. However, factors that may confer risks for child routines have seldom been examined, particularly in families where parents and grandparents co-care the children. This study aimed to investigate the associations of parents' and grandparents' depressive symptoms with preschoolers' daily routines in Chinese three-generation families and to determine whether household chaos mediated or moderated the associations. The participants were from 171 urban three-generation families where mothers, fathers, and grandmothers (97 paternal and 74 maternal) were primary caregivers. Mothers, fathers, and grandmothers reported their depressive symptoms at Wave 1; at Wave 2 (during the COVID-19 pandemic), caregivers reported household chaos and child routines. The results revealed that child routines were negatively predicted by parents' joint depressive symptoms rather than grandmothers' depressive symptoms. In the associations, household chaos acted as a mediator rather than a moderator. Specifically, household chaos marginally mediated the associations between parents' and grandmothers' depressive symptoms and child routines only in maternal three-generation families. These findings suggest that in three-generation families, caregivers with more depressive symptoms may elicit more chaotic family environments, which may in turn compromise their children's daily routines.

Systematically Defined Informative Priors in Bayesian Estimation: An Empirical Application on the Transmission of Internalizing Symptoms Through Mother-Adolescent Interaction Behavior

BACKGROUND

Bayesian estimation with informative priors permits updating previous findings with new data, thus generating cumulative knowledge. To reduce subjectivity in the process, the present study emphasizes how to systematically weigh and specify informative priors and highlights the use of different aggregation methods using an empirical example that examined whether observed mother-adolescent positive and negative interaction behavior mediate the associations between maternal and adolescent internalizing symptoms across early to mid-adolescence in a 3-year longitudinal multi-method design.

METHODS

The sample consisted of 102 mother-adolescent dyads (39.2% girls, M age T1 = 13.0). Mothers and adolescents reported on their internalizing symptoms and their interaction behaviors were observed during a conflict task. We systematically searched for previous studies and used an expert-informed weighting system to account for their relevance. Subsequently, we aggregated the (power) priors using three methods: linear pooling, logarithmic pooling, and fitting a normal distribution to the linear pool by means of maximum likelihood estimation. We compared the impact of the three differently specified informative priors and default priors on the prior predictive distribution, shrinkage, and the posterior estimates.

RESULTS

The prior predictive distributions for the three informative priors were quite similar and centered around the observed data mean. The shrinkage results showed that the logarithmic pooled priors were least affected by the data. Most posterior estimates were similar across the different priors. Some previous studies contained extremely specific information, resulting in bimodal posterior distributions for the analyses with linear pooled prior distributions. The posteriors following the fitted normal priors and default priors were very similar. Overall, we found that maternal, but not adolescent, internalizing symptoms predicted subsequent mother-adolescent interaction behavior, whereas negative interaction behavior seemed to predict subsequent internalizing symptoms. Evidence regarding mediation effects remained limited.

CONCLUSION

A systematic search for previous information and an expert-built weighting system contribute to a clear specification of power priors. How information from multiple previous studies should be included in the prior depends on theoretical considerations (e.g., the prior is an updated Bayesian distribution), and may also be affected by pragmatic considerations regarding the impact of the previous results at hand (e.g., extremely specific previous results).

Parental internalizing symptoms as predictors of anxiety symptoms in clinic-referred children

Background:

Mothers’ and fathers’ internalizing symptoms may influence children’s anxiety symptoms differently.

Objective:

To explore the relationship between parental internalizing symptoms and children’s anxiety symptoms in a clinical sample of children with anxiety disorders.

Method:

The sample was recruited through community mental health clinics for a randomized controlled anxiety treatment trial. At pre-intervention, children (n = 182), mothers (n = 165), and fathers (n = 72) reported children’s anxiety symptoms. Mothers and fathers also reported their own internalizing symptoms. The children were aged 8 to 15 years (M_age = 11.5 years, SD = 2.1, 52.2% girls) and all had a diagnosis of separation anxiety, social phobia, and/or generalized anxiety disorder. We examined parental internalizing symptoms as predictors of child anxiety symptoms in multiple regression models.

Results:

Both mother and father rated internalizing symptoms predicted children’s self-rated anxiety levels (adj. R² = 22.0%). Mother-rated internalizing symptoms predicted mother-rated anxiety symptoms in children (adj. R² = 7.0%). Father-rated internalizing symptoms did not predict father-rated anxiety in children.

Conclusions:

Clinicians should incorporate parental level of internalizing symptoms in their case conceptualizations.

Associations between maternal depressive symptoms and risk for offspring early-life psychopathology: the role of genetic and non-genetic mechanisms

BACKGROUND

Although maternal depressive symptoms are robustly associated with offspring early-life psychopathology symptoms, it is not clear which potential mechanisms are at play. We aimed to estimate the relative importance of genetic transmission and direct environmental exposure in these associations on three occasions in early childhood.

METHODS

Biometric modeling of maternal sisters and their offspring from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study. The analyzed sample comprised 22 316 mothers and 35 589 offspring. Mothers reported their own depressive symptoms using the Symptom checklist, and offspring's concurrent symptoms of psychopathology using the Child Behavior Checklist at 1.5, 3, and 5 years postpartum.

RESULTS

Associations between maternal symptoms of depression and offspring emotional problems were predominantly explained by passive genetic transmission at 1.5 and 3 years postpartum. At age 5, associations were more due to direct environmental exposure. For offspring behavioral problems, there was no net increase in the importance of direct environmental exposure across occasions.

CONCLUSIONS

Associations between maternal depressive symptoms and offspring psychopathology symptoms remained after accounting for shared genes, consistent with a small, causal effect. For offspring emotional problems, this effect appeared to increase in importance over time. Our findings imply that treatment of maternal depressive symptoms could also benefit the offspring, and that genetic confounding should be considered in future studies of such mother-offspring associations.

Effects of maternal and paternal postnatal depressive symptoms on infants' parasympathetic regulation in low-income, Mexican American families

Mothers and fathers are at elevated risk for developing depression during the first postnatal year, especially among families from marginalized communities. Although a number of studies demonstrate that exposure to maternal depressive symptoms can undermine infants' regulatory development, less is known about the extent to which paternal depressive symptoms may also contribute. The current study investigated whether maternal and paternal depressive symptoms were uniquely associated with infants' physiological regulation, and whether associations varied depending on infant sex. Participants included 90 low-income Mexican American families. Fathers and mothers self-reported their depressive symptoms when infants were 15 weeks old, and infants' resting parasympathetic activity (i.e., respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA]) was assessed at 6 and 24 weeks. Results indicated that, after controlling for infant 6-week RSA and depressive symptoms in the other parent, paternal depressive symptoms were associated with lower 24-week RSA for both girls and boys, but maternal depressive symptoms were only associated with lower 24-week RSA for boys. Findings highlight a potential mechanism through which the consequences of parent depressive symptoms may reverberate across generations, and suggest that considerations of both infants' and parents' sex may lend insight into how best to intervene.

How important are parents in the development of child anxiety and depression? A genomic analysis of parent-offspring trios in the Norwegian Mother Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa)

BACKGROUND

Many studies detect associations between parent behaviour and child symptoms of anxiety and depression. Despite knowledge that anxiety and depression are influenced by a complex interplay of genetic and environmental risk factors, most studies do not account for shared familial genetic risk. Quantitative genetic designs provide a means of controlling for shared genetics, but rely on observed putative exposure variables, and require data from highly specific family structures.

METHODS

The intergenerational genomic method, Relatedness Disequilibrium Regression (RDR), indexes environmental effects of parents on child traits using measured genotypes. RDR estimates how much the parent genome influences the child indirectly via the environment, over and above effects of genetic factors acting directly in the child. This 'genetic nurture' effect is agnostic to parent phenotype and captures unmeasured heritable parent behaviours. We applied RDR in a sample of 11,598 parent-offspring trios from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) to estimate parental genetic nurture separately from direct child genetic effects on anxiety and depression symptoms at age 8. We tested for mediation of genetic nurture via maternal anxiety and depression symptoms. Results were compared to a complementary non-genomic pedigree model.

RESULTS

Parental genetic nurture explained 14% of the variance in depression symptoms at age 8. Subsequent analyses suggested that maternal anxiety and depression partially mediated this effect. The genetic nurture effect was mirrored by the finding of family environmental influence in our pedigree model. In contrast, variance in anxiety symptoms was not significantly influenced by common genetic variation in children or parents, despite a moderate pedigree heritability.

CONCLUSIONS

Genomic methods like RDR represent new opportunities for genetically sensitive family research on complex human traits, which until now has been largely confined to adoption, twin and other pedigree designs. Our results are relevant to debates about the role of parents in the development of anxiety and depression in children, and possibly where to intervene to reduce problems.

Intergenerational transmission: Theoretical and methodological issues and an introduction to four Dutch cohorts

Behaviors, traits and characteristics are transmitted from parents to offspring because of complex genetic and non-genetic processes. We review genetic and non-genetic mechanisms of intergenerational transmission of psychopathology and parenting and focus on recent methodological advances in disentangling genetic and non-genetic factors. In light of this review, we propose that future studies on intergenerational transmission should aim to disentangle genetic and non-genetic transmission, take a long-term longitudinal perspective, and focus on paternal and maternal intergenerational transmission. We present four large longitudinal cohort studies within the Consortium on Individual Development, which together address many of these methodological challenges. These four cohort studies aim to examine the extent to which genetic and non-genetic transmission from the parental generation shapes parenting behavior and psychopathology in the next generation, as well as the extent to which self-regulation and social competence mediate this transmission. Conjointly, these four cohorts provide a comprehensive approach to the study of intergenerational transmission.

Factors associated with anxiety disorders among patients with substance use disorders in Lebanon: Results of a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVES

Estimate the rate of anxiety disorders (AD) and associated factors among patients with substance use disorder (SUD) in Lebanon.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study, conducted between April and September 2017, enrolled 57 inpatients with SUD.

RESULTS

The rate of AD in patients with SUD was 61.4%. The university level of education compared to the primary level of education (ORa = 0.221) was significantly associated with lower anxiety among patients with SUD. Being sexually abused and having a family history of depression tended to significance.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

AD is widespread in Lebanon and high rates of anxiety in patients with SUD were found, warranting the implementation of strategic interventions and establishing national policies and legislation for mental health services to provide optimal care.

The link between parental psychological control, depressive symptoms and epigenetic changes in the glucocorticoid receptor gene (NR3C1)

AIMS

This paper examines the relationship between parental Psychological Control (PC) and depressive symptoms in adolescents and assesses whether this relationship was mediated by DNA methylation, focusing on the glucocorticoid receptor gene (NR3C1), which plays a crucial role in HPA-axis functioning and is linked to environmental stress and depression. This is among the very few studies that looked at the relation between DNA methylation, environmental stress and depression in family trios.

METHODS

The study cohort consisted of 250 families: father, mother and a biologically related adolescent (adolescents (48.9% boys), mean age: 15.14, SD= 1.9; mean age mothers: 45.83, SD= 4.2; mean age fathers: 47.77, SD= 4.7). Depressive symptoms and PC were measured in adolescents and in both parents. DNA methylation levels in NR3C1 were examined in all participants.

RESULTS

Depressive symptoms in adolescents were predicted by PC of both mothers and fathers. Moreover, maternal depressive symptoms were associated with maternal PC, and fathers' depressive symptoms and PC. In fathers, only the level of their self-reported PC was associated with their depressive symptoms. There was no relation between adolescents' DNA methylation and depressive symptoms or the level of parental PC. Yet, there was a significant association between maternal depressive symptoms and maternal epigenetic patterns in NR3C1.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings highlight the need for more research in order to better understand the biological and contextual mechanisms through which parenting and parental emotional well-being is related to the development of psychopathology.

Inherited and Environmental Moderators of Mother-Child Behavioral Contingency and Contingent Negativity at 27 Months

Previous research has shown that as depressive symptomology increases, mothers tend to show withdrawn or harsh interaction patterns with their children, and the quality of these interaction patterns have subsequently been linked to child behavior problems. However, little research has examined bidirectional influences between mothers and their children, and how these moment-to-moment contingencies differ based on heritable and environmental characteristics. We used data from the Early Growth and Development Study a prospective adoption study to examine how adoptive mothers' depressive symptoms and children's heritable tendencies for negative affectivity interact to predict the quality of mother-child interactions at child age 27-months. Results detected two distinct dyadic interaction patterns. The first was a withdrawn interaction style and was observed in children with a high heritable tendency for negative affect. In that style, mother and child interactions were not contingent upon each other, suggesting a lack of joint engagement. The second was a volatile interaction style, observed in children with a low heritable tendency for negative affect. In these cases, mother and child interactions were highly contingent but negative. Our findings demonstrate essential differences in how dyadic interaction patterns vary according to level of depressive symptomology and heritable tendency for negative affect.

Using an adoption design to test genetically based differences in risk for child behavior problems in response to home environmental influences

Differential susceptibility theory (DST) posits that individuals differ in their developmental plasticity: some children are highly responsive to both environmental adversity and support, while others are less affected. According to this theory, "plasticity" genes that confer risk for psychopathology in adverse environments may promote superior functioning in supportive environments. We tested DST using a broad measure of child genetic liability (based on birth parent psychopathology), adoptive home environmental variables (e.g., marital warmth, parenting stress, and internalizing symptoms), and measures of child externalizing problems (n = 337) and social competence (n = 330) in 54-month-old adopted children from the Early Growth and Development Study. This adoption design is useful for examining DST because children are placed at birth or shortly thereafter with nongenetically related adoptive parents, naturally disentangling heritable and postnatal environmental effects. We conducted a series of multivariable regression analyses that included Gene × Environment interaction terms and found little evidence of DST; rather, interactions varied depending on the environmental factor of interest, in both significance and shape. Our mixed findings suggest further investigation of DST is warranted before tailoring screening and intervention recommendations to children based on their genetic liability or "sensitivity."

Examining the Role of Genetic Risk and Longitudinal Transmission Processes Underlying Maternal Parenting and Psychopathology and Children's ADHD Symptoms and Aggression: Utilizing the Advantages of a Prospective Adoption Design

Although genetic factors may contribute to initial liability for ADHD onset, there is growing evidence of the potential importance of the rearing environment on the developmental course of ADHD symptomatology. However, associations between family-level variables (maternal hostility, maternal depressive symptoms) and child behaviors (developmental course of ADHD and aggression) may be explained by genes that are shared by biologically related parents and children. Furthermore, ADHD symptoms and aggression commonly co-occur: it is important to consider both simultaneously to have a better understanding of processes underlying the developmental course of ADHD and aggression. To addresses these issues, we employed a longitudinal genetically sensitive parent-offspring adoption design. Analyses were conducted using Cohort I (n = 340) of the Early Growth and Development Study with cross-validation analyses conducted with Cohort II (n = 178). Adoptive mother hostility, but not depression, was associated with later child ADHD symptoms and aggression. Mothers and their adopted children were genetically unrelated, removing passive rGE as a possible explanation. Early child impulsivity/activation was associated with later ADHD symptoms and aggression. Child impulsivity/activation was also associated with maternal hostility, with some evidence for evocative gene-environment correlation processes on adoptive mother depressive symptoms. This study provides novel insights into family-based environmental influences on child ADHD and aggression symptoms, independent of shared parental genetic factors, implications of which are further explicated in the discussion.

Exposure to maternal depressive symptoms and growth in adolescent substance use: The mediating role of delay discounting

Maternal depression is associated with instability within the family environment and increases in offspring substance use across adolescence. Rates of delay discounting, or the tendency to select smaller rewards that are immediately available relative to larger, but delayed rewards, are also associated with steeper increases in substance use among youth. Moreover, recent research suggests that early unstable environments may reinforce youths' propensity towards opportunistic decision making and delay discounting specifically. The current prospective, longitudinal study examined links between maternal depressive symptoms, adolescent delay discounting, and subsequent substance use. Participants included 247 adolescents and their mothers who were assessed annually over a 6-year period (from ages 13 to 19 years). Results supported a small but significant mediation effect. Specifically, maternal depressive symptoms predicted increases in adolescent delay discounting, which, in turn, predicted steeper increases in adolescent substance use over time. Thus, youth decision making may represent a mechanism linking maternal depression and adolescent risk behaviors. Findings indicate the potential for interventions targeting parental psychopathology to prevent subsequent adolescent substance use.

Intergenerational Transmission of Depression

The study of depression in mothers in relation to transmission of risk for the development of psychopathology in their children relies on solid foundations in the understanding of psychopathology, of development, and of developmental psychopathology per se. This article begins with a description of the scope of the problem, including a summary of knowledge of how mothers’ depression is associated with outcomes in children and of moderators of those associations. The sense of scope then informs a theoretical and empirical perspective on knowledge of mechanisms in those associations, with a focus on what has been learned in the past 20 years. Throughout the article, and in conclusions at the end, are suggestions for next steps in research and practice.

The Rearing Environment and Risk for Major Depression: A Swedish National High-Risk Home-Reared and Adopted-Away Co-Sibling Control Study

OBJECTIVE

The authors sought to clarify the role of rearing environment in the etiology of major depression.

METHODS

Defining high risk as having at least one biological parent with major depression, the authors identified a Swedish National Sample of 666 high-risk full sibships and 2,596 high-risk half sibships containing at least one home-reared and one adopted-away sibling. Major depression was assessed from national medical registries.

RESULTS

Controlling for sex, parental age at birth, and, for half siblings, history of major depression in the nonshared parent, the risk for major depression in the matched adopted compared with home-reared full and half siblings was reduced by 23% (95% CI=7-36) and by 19% (95% CI=10-38), respectively. This protective rearing effect was not influenced by the relative educational status of the biological and adoptive parents. However, in both full and half sibships, the protective effect of adoption disappeared when an adoptive parent or stepsibling had major depression or the adoptive home was disrupted by parental death or divorce.

CONCLUSIONS

In matched full and half sibships at high risk for major depression, compared with individuals raised in their home environment, those reared in adoptive homes (homes selected in Sweden for their high-quality rearing environment) had a significantly reduced risk for major depression. This protective effect disappeared if an adoptive parent had major depression or if the adoptive home experienced parental death or divorce during childhood/adolescence. The rearing environment has a meaningful impact on risk for major depression, and this effect is likely mediated both by parental depression and the continuity or disruption of the home environment.

Hair cortisol concentration mediates the association between parent and child psychopathology

Parent and child mental health are strongly associated and this association may be transmitted via disruption to the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in children. This study examined the potential mediating role of hair cortisol concentration (HCC) in the association between parent psychopathology and child mental disorder. Data come from 100 children diagnosed with a mental disorder [major depression (66 %), generalized anxiety (58 %), attention-deficit hyperactivity (33 %), oppositional defiant (35 %)] and their parents. Parent psychopathology was measured using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Child mental disorder was measured using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview and hair samples were assayed using high-sensitivity ELISA for cortisol extraction. Sex-specific path models were specified to estimate mediating effects (αβ). Children were, on average, 14.4 (SD 2.3) years of age and 70 % were girls. Adjusting for child age, parent sex, and family income, HCC mediated the association between symptoms of parent psychopathology and major depression and attention-deficit hyperactivity in all children (αβ ranging -0.07 to 0.19; 38-46 % effect mediated). Mediating effects for generalized anxiety and opposition defiant were evident for boys only (αβ ranging -0.26 to 0.14; 31-38 % effect mediated). Evidence suggests HCC partially mediates the association between parent psychopathology and child mental disorder, and for generalized anxiety and oppositional defiant, this effect is specific to boys. Family inventions to reduce child stress may be effective in buffering the consequences of parent psychopathology. Further research that considers sex effects is needed to clarify how HCC conditions risk for mental disorder in children.

Depressive symptoms in parents are associated with reduced empathy toward their young children

BACKGROUND

While depression is typically associated with reduced levels of empathy, this association differs depending on how empathy is measured. Given the importance of empathy in the parent-child relationship, we sought to examine whether the associations between depression and dispositional empathy would also extend to empathy towards one's own child.

METHODS

Within a non-clinical sample of 150 parents of young children, we examined the associations between self-reported depressive symptoms, dispositional empathic tendencies, and empathy specifically toward their own children, and how these associations might differ based on parent gender.

RESULTS

Depressive symptoms were related to lower levels of cognitive and affective empathy, and higher levels of empathic distress. Over and above the association with dispositional empathy, depressive symptoms were associated with reduced levels of parents' affective empathy toward their own child. The associations between depressive symptoms and both dispositional and own-child specific empathy varied by parent gender. For fathers, depressive symptoms predicted own-child specific affective empathy, over and above dispositional affective empathy, while for mothers, depressive symptoms predicted own-child specific empathic distress, over and above dispositional empathic distress.

CONCLUSIONS

The current findings provide further indication that caregivers with elevated depression may engage in patterns of thoughts and behaviors that have implications for their interactions with their children. Parents' experienced empathy toward their own child may be one mechanism by which depression impacts the early caregiving environment, and thus may be an important target for intervention in improving the early caregiving experiences for children at elevated risk due to parental depression. Differences in cognitive and affective empathy found among those with depression may be even more pronounced in the thoughts and feelings towards one's own child, making this an important clinical target.

The unique effects of maternal and paternal depressive symptoms on youth's symptomatology: Moderation by family ethnicity, family structure, and child gender

Drawing on five waves of longitudinal data from 392 families (52% female; mean age of wave 1 [Mage_W1] = 12.89, standard deviation [SD] = .48; Mage_W5 = 21.95, SD = .77; 199 European American and 193 Mexican American families; 217 intact and 175 stepfather families), this study documented transactional relations of mothers' and fathers' depressive symptoms with youth's symptomatology from early adolescence to young adulthood. Trait and time-varying cross-lagged models revealed that both mothers' and fathers' between- and within-person differences in depressive symptoms were associated with youth's internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Whereas each parent's depressive symptoms uniquely contributed to youth's internalizing symptoms, however, only mothers' depressive symptoms influenced youth's externalizing symptoms. Although reciprocal effects of youth's internalizing symptoms on parents' depressive symptoms were not significant, youth's externalizing symptoms predicted changes in mothers' depressive symptoms over time. Moderation analyses revealed distinct transactional patterns by family ethnicity and child gender, but not by family structure. This study revealed dynamic transactions among family members' symptomatology that point to opportune times and targets for intervention efforts aimed at mitigating the negative impact of parents' depressive symptoms on youth's adjustment.

Depression and Anxiety Symptoms of British Adoptive Parents: A Prospective Four-Wave Longitudinal Study

The mental health of birth parents has gained attention due to the serious negative consequences for personal, family, and child outcomes, but depression and anxiety in adoptive parents remains under-recognized. Using a prospective, longitudinal design, we investigated anxiety and depression symptoms in 96 British adoptive parents over four time points in the first four years of an adoptive placement. Depression and anxiety symptom scores were relatively stable across time. Growth curve analysis showed that higher child internalizing scores and lower parental sense of competency at five months post-placement were associated with higher initial levels of parental depressive symptoms. Lower parental sense of competency was also associated with higher initial levels of parental anxiety symptoms. Parents of older children and those with higher levels of parental anxiety and sense of competency at five months post-placement had a steeper decrease in depressive symptoms over time. Support for adoptive families primarily focuses on child adjustment. Our findings suggest that professional awareness of parental mental health post-placement may be necessary, and interventions aimed at improving parents' sense of competency may be beneficial.

The Early Growth and Development Study: A Dual-Family Adoption Study from Birth Through Adolescence

The Early Growth and Development Study (EGDS) is a prospective adoption study of birth parents, adoptive parents and adopted children (n = 561 adoptees). The original sample has been expanded to include siblings of the EGDS adoptees who were reared by the birth mother and assessed beginning at age 7 years (n = 217 biological children), and additional siblings in both the birth and adoptive family homes, recruited when the adoptees were 8-15 years old (n = 823). The overall study aims are to examine how family, peer and contextual processes affect child and adolescent adjustment, and to examine their interplay (mediation, moderation) with genetic influences. Adoptive and birth parents were originally recruited through adoption agencies located throughout the USA following the birth of a child. Assessments are ongoing and occurred in 9 month's intervals until the adoptees turned 3 years of age, and in 1 to 2 year intervals thereafter through age 15. Data collection includes the following primary constructs: child temperament, behavior problems, mental health, peer relations, executive functioning, school performance and health; birth and adoptive parent personality characteristics, mental health, health, context, substance use, parenting and marital relations; and the prenatal environment. Findings highlight the power of the adoption design to detect environmental influences on child development and provide evidence of complex interactions and correlations between genetic, prenatal environmental and postnatal environmental influences on a range of child outcomes. The study sample, procedures and an overview of findings are summarized and ongoing assessment activities are described.