Depressed parents and their children. General health, social, and psychiatric problems
M. M. Weissman, K. John, K. R. Merikangas, B. A. Prusoff, P. Wickramaratne, G. D. Gammon, A. Angold and V. Warner
Two hundred twenty children (aged 6 to 23 years) from families with either
depressed or normal (nonpsychiatrically ill) parents of comparable
sociodemographic backgrounds were studied. The children from families in
which at least one parent had experienced a major depression were reported
to have had more adverse perinatal events; were later in achieving some
developmental landmarks; had more convulsions, head injuries, operations,
and psychiatric disorders (particularly major depression); and made more
suicide attempts. Overall, there were no significant differences in IQ
between children in both groups. Mothers in families with a depressed
parent reported more medical problems during pregnancy and labor, and the
children were reported to have experienced more distress at birth. Since
major depression is a highly prevalent disorder in women of childbearing
ages, these findings have direct clinical implications for pediatricians.
Their specificity for major depression, as contrasted with other
psychiatric disorders or chronic illnesses in the parents, requires further
study.
