Associations between maternal depressive symptoms and risk for offspring early-life psychopathology: the role of genetic and non-genetic mechanisms

Abstract 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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Associations between maternal depressive symptoms, children’s behavioral problems and perceptions regarding family interactions

Estudos de Psicologia (Campinas) ◽

10.1590/1982-0275202037e190048 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 37 ◽

Author(s):

Claudia Mazzer RODRIGUES-PALUCCI ◽

Fernanda Aguiar PIZETA ◽

Sonia Regina LOUREIRO

Keyword(s):

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Maternal Depression ◽

Behavioral Problems ◽

School Age Children ◽

Family Interactions ◽

Maternal Depressive Symptoms ◽

School Age ◽

The Family ◽

Mothers And Children ◽

Patient Health

Abstract The aim of this study was to verify possible associations between maternal depressive symptoms, children’s behavioral problems and perceptions regarding the family interactions, considering the reports of mothers and children. A total of 60 mothers and their school-age children were divided into two equal groups, according to the presence or absence of maternal depression indicators, and evaluated using the following instruments: Sociodemographic Questionnaire, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, and scales of family interaction (Escalas de Qualidade nas Interações Familiares). The results indicate that maternal depressive symptoms were associated with children’s behavioral problems and with family interactions reported by mothers and children. Maternal depression and positive family interactions reported by the mothers predicted behavioral problems in children. Positive family interactions reported by the mothers also mediated the association between maternal depression and children’s behavioral problems, highlighting the relevance of interventions with mothers with depression indicators that have school-age children.

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The effects of maternal depression on their perception of emotional and behavioral problems of their internationally adopted children

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health ◽

10.1186/s13034-021-00396-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Krista Liskola ◽

Hanna Raaska ◽

Helena Lapinleimu ◽

Jari Lipsanen ◽

Jari Sinkkonen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Behavioral Problems ◽

Internalizing Symptoms ◽

Externalizing Symptoms ◽

Emotional And Behavioral Problems ◽

P Value ◽

Adopted Children ◽

Maternal Depressive Symptoms ◽

Adoptive Mothers ◽

Internationally Adopted Children

Abstract Background Even though child psychopathology assessment guidelines emphasize comprehensive multi-method, multimodal, and multi-informant methodologies, maternal-report symptom-rating scales often serve as the predominant source of information. Research has shown that parental mood symptomatology affects their reports of their offspring’s psychopathology. For example, the depression-distortion hypothesis suggests that maternal depression promotes a negative bias in mothers’ perceptions of their children’s behavioral and emotional problems. We investigated this difference of perception between adoptive mothers and internationally adopted children. Most previous studies suffer from the potential bias caused by the fact that parents and children share genetic risks. Methods Data were derived from the Finnish Adoption (FinAdo) survey study (a subsample of adopted children aged between 9 and 12 years, n = 222). The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) was used to assess emotional and behavioral problems and competences of the adopted children. The CBCL was filled in by the adopted children and the adoptive mothers, respectively. Maternal depressive symptoms were measured using the short version of the General Health Questionnaire. Results On average, mothers reported less total CBCL symptoms in their children than the children themselves (0.25 vs 0.38, p-value < 0.01 for difference). Mothers’ depressive symptoms moderated the discrepancy in reporting internalizing symptoms (β = − 0.14 and p-value 0.01 for interaction) and the total symptoms scores (β = − 0.22 and p-value < 0.001 for interaction) and externalizing symptoms in girls in the CBCL. Limitations The major limitation of our study is its cross-sectional design and the fact that we only collected data in the form of questionnaires. Conclusions The results of our research support the depression-distortion hypothesis concerning the association of maternal depressive symptoms and child internalizing symptoms and externalizing symptoms in girls in a sample without genetic bias

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A family-based intervention for improving children’s emotional problems through effects on maternal depressive symptoms.

Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology ◽

10.1037/ccp0000049 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 83 (6) ◽

pp. 1142-1148 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Julia D. Reuben ◽

Daniel S. Shaw ◽

Lauretta M. Brennan ◽

Thomas J. Dishion ◽

Melvin N. Wilson

Keyword(s):

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Emotional Problems ◽

Maternal Depressive Symptoms ◽

Family Based

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Trajectories of Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Behavioral Problems of Children at Four Years of Age: Evidence from the Panel Study of Korean Children

Child Indicators Research ◽

10.1007/s12187-016-9417-8 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

pp. 1061-1078 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Yeon Ha Kim

Keyword(s):

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Behavioral Problems ◽

Panel Study ◽

Maternal Depressive Symptoms ◽

Korean Children

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Perinatal maternal depressive symptoms and risk of behavioral problems at five years

Pediatric Research ◽

10.1038/s41390-021-01719-9 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Maoka Yamada ◽

Keiko Tanaka ◽

Masashi Arakawa ◽

Yoshihiro Miyake

Keyword(s):

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Behavioral Problems ◽

Maternal Depressive Symptoms

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Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Children’s Emotional Problems

JAMA Psychiatry ◽

10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2013.1361 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 70 (8) ◽

pp. 830 ◽

Cited By ~ 37

Author(s):

Catherine M. Herba ◽

Richard E. Tremblay ◽

Michel Boivin ◽

Xuecheng Liu ◽

Chantal Mongeau ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Emotional Problems ◽

Maternal Depressive Symptoms

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597 Sleep Bruxism in Preschool Children: Associations with Emotional-Behavioral Problems

SLEEP ◽

10.1093/sleep/zsab072.595 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 44 (Supplement_2) ◽

pp. A235-A235

Author(s):

Christine Laganière ◽

Samantha Kenny ◽

Hélène Gaudreau ◽

Irina Pokhvisneva ◽

Andrée-Anne Bouvette-Turcot ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Socioeconomic Status ◽

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Behavioral Problems ◽

Sleep Bruxism ◽

Maternal Depressive Symptoms ◽

Sleep Habits ◽

Related Factors ◽

Family Socioeconomic Status ◽

Biological Sex ◽

The Relationship

Abstract Introduction Several psychosocial factors contribute to the etiology of sleep bruxism in childhood, including emotional-behavioral problems, as well as environmental and familial factors. It is known that sleep bruxism is prevalent in preschoolers, but most etiology studies were conducted with school-aged children or adolescents. Studies focusing on younger, preschool-aged populations that consider family-related factors are lacking. This study aimed to assess the relationship between emotional-behavioral problems and the presence of sleep bruxism in preschoolers, while taking maternal depressive symptoms into consideration. Methods Three hundred eighty-three mother-child dyads from the Maternal Adversity, Vulnerability, and Neurodevelopment (MAVAN) cohort were included in the present study. Mothers completed the Child’s Sleep Habits Questionnaires (CSHQ; includes the frequency of bruxism), a questionnaire about their child’s emotional-behavioral problems (CBCL; anxiety and depressive problems), and reported their own depressive symptoms (CES-D). Measures were completed at two timepoints: when children were 4 and 5 years old. Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) models were used to evaluate the relationship between sleep bruxism frequency and children’s emotional-behavioral problems, while controlling for maternal depressive symptoms, child’s biological sex, family socioeconomic status, and age. Results Maternal reports indicated that 12% of children experienced sleep bruxism at least sometimes at age four, and 20% did at age five. Children’s anxiety and depressive symptoms were associated with increased sleep bruxism frequency (p < 0.05). Associations between children’s emotional-behavioral problems and bruxism remained statistically significant when controlling for maternal depressive symptoms, child’s biological sex, family socioeconomic status, and time (p < 0.05). Conclusion In this normative cohort of children, sleep bruxism was associated with anxiety and depressive symptoms in children as young as age four. Furthermore, this relationship can still be observed when the severity of maternal depressive symptoms is considered. Whether anxiety and depressive symptoms contribute to sleep bruxism, or vice versa, remain to be further investigated. Nevertheless, results suggest that screening of emotional-behavioral problems should be considered in children experiencing sleep bruxism. Support (if any) Fonds de recherche du Québec - Santé

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Sex-Dependent Associations among Maternal Depressive Symptoms, Child Reward Network, and Behaviors in Early Childhood

Cerebral Cortex ◽

10.1093/cercor/bhz135 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 30 (3) ◽

pp. 901-912 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Qiang Wang ◽

Han Zhang ◽

Joann S Poh ◽

Diliana Pecheva ◽

Birit F P Broekman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Functional Connectivity ◽

Maternal Depression ◽

Behavioral Problems ◽

Externalizing Problems ◽

Maternal Depressive Symptoms ◽

Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽

Internalizing And Externalizing Problems ◽

Reward Network ◽

Internalizing And Externalizing

Abstract Maternal depression is associated with disrupted neurodevelopment in offspring. This study examined relationships among postnatal maternal depressive symptoms, the functional reward network and behavioral problems in 4.5-year-old boys (57) and girls (65). We employed canonical correlation analysis to evaluate whether the resting-state functional connectivity within a reward network, identified through an activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis of fMRI studies, was associated with postnatal maternal depressive symptoms and child behaviors. The functional reward network consisted of three subnetworks, that is, the mesolimbic, mesocortical, and amygdala–hippocampus reward subnetworks. Postnatal maternal depressive symptoms were associated with the functional connectivity of the mesocortical subnetwork with the mesolimbic and amygdala–hippocampus complex subnetworks in girls and with the functional connectivity within the mesocortical subnetwork in boys. The functional connectivity of the amygdala–hippocampus subnetwork with the mesocortical and mesolimbic subnetworks was associated with both internalizing and externalizing problems in girls, while in boys, the functional connectivity of the mesocortical subnetwork with the amygdala–hippocampus complex and the mesolimbic subnetworks was associated with the internalizing and externalizing problems, respectively. Our findings suggest that the functional reward network might be a promising neural phenotype for effects of maternal depression and potential intervention to nurture child behavioral development.

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HIV-related enacted stigma and increase frequency of depressive symptoms among Thai and Cambodian adolescents and young adults with perinatal HIV

International Journal of STD & AIDS ◽

10.1177/0956462420960602 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 095646242096060

Author(s):

Linda Aurpibul ◽

Jiratchaya Sophonphan ◽

Kathleen Malee ◽

Stephen J Kerr ◽

Ly Penh Sun ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Young Adults ◽

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Behavioral Problems ◽

Child Behavior Checklist ◽

Social Problems ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Adolescents And Young Adults ◽

Perinatal Hiv ◽

Increased Risk ◽

Enacted Stigma

HIV-related enacted stigma and social problems may increase risk for depression and/or behavioral problems among adolescents and young adults with perinatal HIV(AYA-PHIV), yet few studies have explored stigma in AYA-PHIV residing in low-to-middle income regions, including Southeast Asia. We assessed HIV-related enacted stigma and social problems in AYA-PHIV who participated in the RESILIENCE study (clinicaltrials.gov identification: U19AI53741) in Thailand and Cambodia using specific questions during structured in-person interviews. Depression was measured by the Child Depression Inventory for children <15 years, or the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scales for youth ≥15 years); behavioral problems were measured by the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL-caregiver report). Among 195 AYA-PHIV (median age 16.9 years), 25.6% reported a lifetime experience of enacted stigma, while 10.8% experienced social problems due to HIV infection. The frequency of depressive symptoms was nearly two-fold higher among AYA-PHIV with compared to those without HIV-related enacted stigma (34.7% vs. 16.0%, p = 0.005). Caregiver-reported behavioral problems were detected in 14.6% of all AYA-PHIV, with no differences between those with and without HIV-related enacted stigma. Low household income and caregiver mental health problems were independent risk factors for depressive symptoms; HIV-related enacted stigma was also associated with increased risk, warranting targeted services to support AYA-PHIV.

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