Associations between maternal depressive symptoms and risk for offspring early-life psychopathology: the role of genetic and non-genetic mechanisms
Open accessAbstract
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.
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A previous study showed that maternal psychological issues are most common during the first 4-6 weeks after giving birth.
“A previous study showed that maternal psychological issues are most common during the first 4–6 weeks after giving birth [47]; this is the time when most mothers go back to their families again.”
From The traumatic childbirth experience of mothers after emergency cesarean section(EmCS) in China: a descriptive qualitative study (2025) · cites this paper as [47]
Cites
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“A meta-analysis found that the discrepancy between the mother–offspring correlations when teachers were the raters of the child outcomes v. when the mothers were the raters was 0.1 for internalizing problems and 0.09 for externalizing problems, or 40% for both outcomes (Goodman et al., 2011).”
InfluentialMeta-analysis of the heritability of human traits based on fifty years of twin studies
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“(3) However, if this rating bias tendency is heritable, as almost all human behavioral traits are (Polderman et al., 2015), this will upwardly bias the estimate of the passive genetic transmission (a1′).”
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Jami, E. S., Hammerschlag, A. R., Bartels, M., & Middeldorp, C. M. (2021) · Translational Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/s41398-021-01300-2 · Cited by 145 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Gjerde, L. C., Eilertsen, E. M., Hannigan, L. J., Eley, T., Røysamb, E., Reichborn-Kjennerud, T., Rijsdijk, F. V., McAdams, T. A., & Ystrom, E.
- Affiliations
- Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NO)
- Lovisenberg Diakonale Sykehus (NO)
- King's College London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Gjerde, Line C.
- Venue
- Psychological Medicine
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2019-12-09
- Volume
- 51
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 441-449
- ISSN
- 0033-2917 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-8978
- OpenAlex
- W2996018335
- Cited by
- 35
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 4
- FWCI
- 2.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Licence
- Locations
- Psychological Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Wellcome Trust (107706/Z/15/Z)
- National Institute for Health and Care Research
- Medical Research Council (MR/M021475/1)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
- Keywords
- maternal depressive symptoms, emotional problems, behavioral problems, genetic confounding, Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study
- MeSH terms
- Problem Behavior, Adult, Child, Preschool, Depression, Female, Humans, Infant, Internal-External Control, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Mothers, Norway, Pregnancy, Psychopathology, Risk Factors, Child of Impaired Parents, Self Report
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