Timing of mother and child depression in a longitudinal study of children at risk

Temporal associations of diagnoses in mothers and children were examined in a 3-year longitudinal study of unipolar, bipolar, and comparison women and their 8- to 16-year-old offspring. There was a significant temporal association between mother and child diagnoses, especially in unipolar families, and most children who experienced a major depressive episode did so in close proximity to maternal depression. Regression analyses indicated that children's own stressful life events, maternal disorder, and the interaction of the two significantly predicted children's changes in depression. Children exposed to high stress but with nonsymptomatic mothers were significantly less depressed subsequent to stressors than those who also had symptomatic mothers. The results are discussed in terms of the reciprocal, interpersonal context of depression.