Mother and father depression symptoms and child emotional difficulties: a network model

BACKGROUND

Mother and father depression symptoms often co-occur, and together can have a substantial impact on child emotional well-being. Little is understood about symptom-level mechanisms underlying the co-occurrence of depression symptoms within families.

AIMS

The objective was to use network analysis to examine depression symptoms in mothers and fathers after having a baby, and emotional symptoms in children in early adolescence.

METHOD

We examined data from 4492 mother-father-child trios taken from a prospective, population-based cohort in the UK. Symptoms were examined using two unregularised partial correlation network models. The initial model was used to examine the pattern of associations, i.e. the overall network structure, for mother and father depression symptoms, and then to identify bridge symptoms that reinforce depression symptoms between parents during offspring infancy. The second model examined associations between the parent symptom network, including bridge symptoms, with later child emotional difficulties.

RESULTS

The study included 4492 mother-father-child trios; 2204 (49.1%) children were female. Bridge symptoms reinforcing mother and father depression symptoms were feeling guilty and self-harm ideation. For mothers, the bridge symptom of feeling guilty, and symptoms of anhedonia, panic and sadness were highly connected with child emotional difficulties. For fathers, the symptom of feeling overwhelmed associated with child emotional difficulties. Guilt and anhedonia in fathers appeared to indirectly associate with child emotional difficulties through the same symptom in mothers.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that specific symptom cascades are central for co-occurring depression in parents and increased vulnerability in children, providing potential therapeutic targets.

Mother and father depression symptoms and child emotional difficulties: a network model

Introduction

Enhancing understanding of depression symptom interactions between parents and associations with subsequent child emotional difficulties will inform targeted treatment of depression to prevent transmission within families.

Objectives

To use a network approach to identify ‘bridge’ symptoms that reinforce mother and father depression, and whether bridge symptoms, as well as other symptoms, impact subsequent child emotional difficulties.

Methods

Symptoms were examined using two unregularized partial correlation network models. The study included 4,492 mother-father-child trios from a prospective, population-based cohort in the United Kingdom. Mother and father reports of depression symptoms were assessed when the child was twenty-one months old. Child emotional difficulties were reported by the mother at ages nine, eleven and thirteen years.

Results

Bridge symptoms mutually reinforcing mother and father depression symptoms were feelings of guilt and self-harm ideation, whereas anhedonia acted as a bridge from the father to the mother, but not vice-versa (fig.1, network 1). The symptom of feelings of guilt in mothers was the only bridge symptom which directly associated with child emotional difficulties. Other symptoms that directly associated with child emotional difficulties were feeling overwhelmed for fathers and anhedonia, sadness, and panic in mothers (fig.1, network 2).

Conclusions

Specific symptom interactions are central to the co-occurrence of depression symptoms between parents. Of interest, only one of the bridge symptoms associated with later child emotional difficulties. In addition, specific symptom-to-child outcomes were identified, suggesting that different symptoms in mothers and fathers are central for increased vulnerability in children.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.

Nighttime lights, urban features, household poverty, depression, and obesity

Nighttime Light Emission (NLE) is associated with diminished mental and physical health. The present study examines how NLE and associated urban features (e.g., air pollution, low green space) impact mental and physical wellbeing. We included 200,393 UK Biobank Cohort participants with complete data. The study was carried out in two steps. In Step1, we assessed the relationship between NLE, deprivation, pollution, green space, household poverty and mental and physical symptoms. In Step2, we examined the role of NLE on environment-symptom networks. We stratified participants into high and low NLE and used gaussian graphical model to identify nodes which bridged urban features and mental and physical health problems. We then compared the global strength of these networks in high vs low NLE. We found that higher NLE associated with higher air pollution, less green space, higher economic and neighborhood deprivation, higher household poverty and higher depressed mood, higher tiredness/lethargy and obesity (Rtraining_mean = 0.2624, P training_mean < .001; Rtest_mean = 0.2619, P test_mean < .001). We also found that the interaction between environmental risk factors and mental, physical problems (overall network connectivity) was higher in the high NLE network than in the low NLE network (t = 0.7896, P < .001). In areas with high NLE, economic deprivation, household poverty and waist circumference acted as bridge factors between the key urban features and mental health symptoms. In conclusion, NLE, urban features, household poverty and mental and physical symptoms are all interrelated. In areas with high NLE, urban features associate with mental and physical health problems at a greater magnitude than in areas with low NLE.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-022-02754-3.

Comorbidity Between Depression and Anxiety in Adolescents: Bridge Symptoms and Relevance of Risk and Protective Factors

Depression and anxiety are highly prevalent and comorbid in adolescents, and this co-occurrence leads to worse prognosis and additional difficulties. The relationship between depression and anxiety must be delineated to, in turn, reduce and prevent the comorbidity, however our knowledge is still limited. We used network analysis to investigate bridge symptoms; symptoms that connect individual depression and anxiety symptoms and thus can help explain the comorbidity. We also examined the role of relevant risk and protective factors in explaining these symptom-level associations between these disorders. We analyzed data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Children and Parents (n = 3670). Depression and anxiety symptoms, peer victimization, bullying, peer relational problems, prosocial behavior, and parental monitoring were assessed at a single time point around age 13 years. Stressful life events (SLEs) were assessed at age 11 years. We identified the most prominent bridge symptoms among depression ("feeling unhappy", "feeling lonely") and anxiety symptoms ("worrying about past", "worrying about future"). Peer relational difficulties and SLEs were strongly associated with several depression and anxiety symptoms, such that these two risk factors created a link between individual depression and anxiety symptoms. Prosocial behavior had several negative associations with symptoms of both disorders, suggesting it can be an important protective factor.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10862-021-09880-5.