Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
ARTICLESFamily Discord, Parental Depression, and Psychopathology in Offspring: 20-Year Follow-up
Section snippets
METHOD
Parents and their children participated in a 20-year follow-up study of offspring of depressed (high-risk families) and nondepressed (low-risk families) probands. The study design and sample assessments have been described in detail elsewhere (Weissman et al., 1987, Weissman et al., 1997, Weissman et al., 2005, Weissman et al). The depressed parents had moderate to severe MDD that resulted in impairment and were receiving treatment at the Yale University Depression Research Unit. The control
Family Discord in Offspring by Parental Depression Status
Of the 182 offspring, 86 were men and 96 were women. The mean age at time 20 was 34.1 years (SD = 5.6). Because family risk factors were measured at baseline (wave 1) and there was no change in parental depression status since the last wave, the distribution of family discord in offspring according to parental depression status has not changed since the 10-year follow-up (Nomura et al., 2002). Briefly, children of depressed parents were more likely to be exposed to poor marital adjustment (OR =
DISCUSSION
Our findings at the 20-year follow-up are consistent with the overall pattern found at the 2- and 10-year follow-ups (i.e., family discord factors were associated with offspring MDD only in children of nondepressed parents). Over the 20-year follow-up, two trends are noteworthy. First, the impact of family risk factors, even in children of nondepressed parents, has diminished over time (Table 4). Second, the impact of parental affectionless control on offspring psychopathology has persisted
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This study was supported by RO1 MH 036197 from the National Institute of Mental Health (Myrna Weissman, PI).
Disclosure: Dr. Weissman has received investigator initiated grants from Eli Lilly and Glaxo and has been on the scientific advisory board of Eli Lilly. The other authors have no financial relationships to disclose.