Daughters of Men With Postnatal Depression May Be at Higher Risk for Depression in Adolescence

Girls whose dads experienced depression shortly after their birth are more likely to develop depression by age 18, according to astudy published Wednesday inJAMA Psychiatry.This cohort study of 3,176 father-offspring pairs in Southwest England explored the association of depression symptoms in fathers eight weeks after the birth of their infant and depression symptoms in the offspring 18 years later. The researchers also examined potential environmental pathways for depression risk. After adjusting for the age and education level of the father, they found that maternal depression had the greatest influence on depression risk, which explained 21% of the association, followed by conduct problems in the offspring at age 3.5 years, which explained 8% of the association.“Our findings suggest that paternal depression during the postnatal period appears to exert its influence on late emotional problems in girls at least in part through maternal depression,” wrote Leticia Gutierrez-Galve, Ph.D., of the Centre for Psychiatry at Imperial College in London. “Matern al depression has been previously associated with impaired parenting, particularly sensitive parenting. Mothers with depression may show less maternal responsiveness or sensitivity, less verbal and visual interaction, and more intrusiveness during interactions with their infants.”Parent participants, who were part of an ongoing population-based cohort study called ALSPAC, took the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale,...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: ALSPAC depression JAMA Psychiatry Leticia Gutierrez-Galve maternal depression paternal depression Source Type: research