Correlates of distress in children at risk for affective disorder: exploring predictors in the offspring of depressed and nondepressed mothers

• Published in: Journal of affective disorders Vol. 59; no. 3; pp. 243 - 251
• Main Authors: Malcarne, Vanessa L., Hamilton, Nancy A., Ingram, Rick E., Taylor, Leslie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01-09-2000; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child clinical studies; Child of Impaired Parents - psychology; Correlates of psychological distress; Depressed and nondepressed mothers; Depression - diagnosis; Depression - psychology; Depressive Disorder - diagnosis; Depressive Disorder - psychology; Depressive Disorder, Major - diagnosis; Depressive Disorder, Major - psychology; Dysthymic Disorder - diagnosis; Dysthymic Disorder - psychology; Female; High and low risk children; Humans; Internal-External Control; Life Change Events; Male; Medical sciences; Mood disorders; Mothers - psychology; Personality Assessment; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Risk Factors; Correlates of psychological distress; Depressed and nondepressed mothers; High and low risk children; Human; Mood disorder; Depression; Cognition; Stress; Verbal ability; Symptomatology; School age; Life events; Language; Mother; Risk factor; Clinical investigation; Severity score; Coping; Child; Comparative study
• ISSN: 0165-0327; 1573-2517
• DOI: 10.1016/S0165-0327(99)00155-X

Background: Efforts to understand the correlates of psychological distress in children frequently examine possible correlates in samples of children who are selected for high levels of distress. The propose of this study was to compare distress correlates in a sample with depressed mothers, and thus at high-risk for distress, to a low-risk sample.
Methods: Examining data from part of a larger project, the association of children’s depressive symptoms and internalizing and externalizing problems to maternal depression level, life stress, verbal ability, and the experience of a traumatic event were examined in a series of regression equations.
Results: Results indicated that children’s depressive symptoms, rather than internalizing and externalizing problems, tended to be most consistently related to maternal variables, and also suggested that any experience of maternal depressive symptoms was associated with child problems. It was also found that child depressive symptoms were correlated with life events, but only for nondepressed mothers, and that at-risk children with higher levels of verbal ability were significantly less likely to report experiencing depressive symptoms and internalizing problems than were those with lower levels of verbal ability.
Limitations: Because these data are preliminary, further research examining a broader array of variables is important.
Conclusions: These results suggest the need for different models of these processes in different populations of children.