Psychopathology in the adolescent and young adult offspring of a community sample of mothers and fathers with major depression
Abstract
Background. There is a large literature indicating that the offspring of mothers with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) are at increased risk for depression. However, much less is known about the effects of paternal MDD on offspring psychopathology. Method. We addressed this issue using a large community sample of parents and their adolescent and young adult offspring (n=775). Parents and offspring were independently assessed with semi-structured diagnostic interviews. Offspring were interviewed three times from mid-adolescence to age 24 years. Results. Maternal MDD was significantly associated with offspring MDD. Paternal MDD was also significantly associated with MDD in offspring, but only among offspring with depressive episodes of moderate or greater severity. These effects persisted after controlling for socio-economic status, family intactness, and non-mood disorders in both parents. Rates of MDD were particularly elevated in offspring of mothers and fathers with early-onset MDD, and offspring of fathers with recurrent MDD. The magnitude of the associations between MDD in parents and offspring was generally in the small-to-medium range. Conclusions. These results confirm previous findings of elevated risk of MDD in the offspring of depressed mothers. In addition, the results suggest that MDD in fathers is associated with increased risk of depression in offspring, but that it is limited to MDD episodes in offspring of moderate or greater severity.
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Paternal depression is associated with increased likelihood of anxiety and depressive symptoms and Major Depressive Disorder in adolescents.
“Similar results exist regarding the association of paternal depression and adolescent functioning with increased likelihood of anxiety and depressive symptoms and Major Depressive Disorder (Klein et al. 2005;Reeb et al. 2010;Reeb et al. 2015).”
From The effects of paternal depression on child and adolescent outcomes: A systematic review (2016) · cites this paper as Klein et al. 2005
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- Authors
- KLEIN, D. N., LEWINSOHN, P. M., ROHDE, P., SEELEY, J. R., & OLINO, T. M.
- Affiliations
- Oregon Research Institute (US)
- Venue
- Psychological Medicine
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2004-10-21
- Volume
- 35
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 353-365
- ISSN
- 0033-2917 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-8978
- OpenAlex
- W2140363007
- Cited by
- 159
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 15
- FWCI
- 6.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01-MH66023, R01 MH40501, R01MH052858, R01 MH52858, R01MH040501, R01MH066023, R01-MH50522, R01MH050522)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Family Support in Illness
- Keywords
- major depressive disorder, offspring psychopathology, maternal depression, paternal depression, adolescent depression, young adult depression, intergenerational transmission of depression, early-onset depression, recurrent depression, depressive episode severity, family history of depression
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adolescent Behavior, Adult, Depressive Disorder, Major, Major Depressive Disorder, Father-Child Relations, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Mother-Child Relations, Risk Factors, Severity of Illness Index
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