Mother's depression affects her child

Risk for depression and other disorders is known to be high among children of depressed mothers, but little is known about the parameters of severity, timing of depression and its effects on children. The current study addresses these issues. Having a mother who has experienced depression can double a child's chances of becoming depressed, a recent research shows. But the risk for childhood depression is only higher than average if the mother has an episode of major depression or is mildly depressed for a prolonged period of time. In these cases, it is important for parents 'to keep their eyes open' for signs of depression or other problems in their children.Researchers from the Department of Psychology, University of California, selected and studied a sample of 816 women and their 15-year-old children from an Australian community to represent variation in maternal depression history during the child's first 10 years of life. In the study, 20% of children whose mothers experienced depression before the child was 10 years old developed depression by age 15, compared with 10% of children whose mothers had never had depression. Researchers noted that depression may be a result of other family trouble, such as stress, marital problems or substance abuse. Children with depressed mothers were also more likely to develop other psychological problems, particularly anxiety disorders. For children's risk of depression to be higher than normal, the study showed that mothers had to have mild depression for at least 1 year. But for major depression, even a 1- to 2-month episode significantly increased a child's depression risk. The researchers noted that the increased risk for children of depressed mothers suggests that genetics as well as psychological and social factors are involved. Also, the effect of paternal depression on children's risk has been studied less extensively, although a father's depression may have a similar impact.

Even relatively brief major maternal depression, or more prolonged mild depression, predicted children's risk for depressive disorders by age 15 years in a community sample. Exposure to maternal depression at any period in the first 10 years equally predicted youth depression if the mother was depressed only once. Further studies are needed to understand how maternal depression raises children's depression risk.

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