Family discord, parental depression, and psychopathology in offspring: 20-year follow-up.

Full Abstract

OBJECTIVE:
To determine the independent effects of parental depression and family discord on offspring psychopathology among children at high and low risk of depression.

METHOD:
Family discord factors were assessed when subjects were approximately 17 years old, and offspring diagnoses were assessed about 20 years later. Parental and offspring psychopathology was assessed by interviewers blind to parents' clinical status. The following dimensions of family discord were assessed:
poor marital adjustment, parent child discord, low family cohesion, affectionless control, and parental divorce.

RESULTS:
Most family discord factors were associated with parental depression. Among children of depressed parents, none of the measures of family discord had a statistically significant association with offspring major depressive disorder or anxiety disorders. Among children of nondepressed parents, parental affectionless control was associated with an almost fivefold increased risk of major depressive disorder (odds ratio [OR] = 4.8; p < or = .05) and with more than a 14-fold increased risk of substance use disorders (OR = 14.3; p < or = .01).

CONCLUSIONS:
Parental depression is associated with family discord and is a consistent risk factor for offspring major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders, as shown over a 20-year follow-up of offspring of depressed and nondepressed parents. Family discord factors may be a risk factor for major depressive disorder and substance use disorders in offspring of nondepressed parents.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Pilowsky, Daniel J (DJ); Wickramaratne, Priya (P); Nomura, Yoko (Y); Weissman, Myrna M (MM);

Affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, USA. dp14(-atsign-)columbia.edu

Grants: R01 MH 036197 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Apr; vol 45 (issue 4) : pp 452-60

Dates: Created 2006/04/07; Completed 2006/05/10; Revised 2007/11/14;

PMID: 16601650, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Female
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Male
Parent-Child Relations
Parents - psychology
Psychopathology

These are the highest related articles currently in the database:

See 100+ related articles.