Objective: Determine how depressed mothers and their adolescent offspring differ in affective and autonomic reactivity during positive and negative parent-adolescent interactions.Methods: In this multi-method case-control study of 180 mother-adolescent dyads (50% mothers depressed, 50% mothers non-depressed) we collected self-reported positive and negative affect, as well as measures of cardiovascular and electrodermal autonomic activity during two mother-adolescent interaction tasks designed to differentially elicit positive (Event-Planning Interaction; EPI) and negative (Problem-Solving Interaction; PSI) affect. Results: Findings indicated that both depressed mothers and their adolescent offspring exhibited greater self-reported negative affect reactivity during the negative interaction and blunted sympathetic activity as measured via skin conductance level across both positive and negative interactions. These effects persisted after controlling for a range of potential covariates, including medication use, sex, age, adolescents own mental health symptoms, and behavior of the other interactant and results remained after correcting for multiple comparisons.Conclusion: These findings indicate that depressed mothers and their adolescent offspring exhibit similar patterning during parent-child interactions, including increased negative affect reactivity during negative interactions and blunted sympathetic activity across both positive and negative interactions. These findings have potential implications for understanding the role of family processes in the intergenerational transmission of risk for depressive disorders.
Affective and Autonomic Reactivity During Parent–Child Interactions in Depressed and Non-Depressed Mothers and Their Adolescent Offspring
