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Adversity, Parental Mental Illness, and Risk of Depression in Youth

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2020

V. Patterson ,
L. Mackenzie ,
A. Zwicker ,
V. Drobinin ,
J. Cumby ,
S. Abidi ,
A. Bagnell ,
L. Propper ,
M. Alda  and
R. Uher
V. Patterson
Affiliation:
Nova Scotia Health Authority, Psychiatry Research, Halifax, Canada
L. Mackenzie
Affiliation:
Dalhousie University, Psychology, Halifax, Canada
A. Zwicker
Affiliation:
Dalhousie University, Pathology, Halifax, Canada
V. Drobinin
Affiliation:
Dalhousie University, Medical Neuroscience, Halifax, Canada
J. Cumby
Affiliation:
Nova Scotia Health Authority, Psychiatry Research, Halifax, Canada
S. Abidi
Affiliation:
IWK Hospital, Psychiatry, Halifax, Canada
A. Bagnell
Affiliation:
IWK Hospital, Psychiatry, Halifax, Canada
L. Propper
Affiliation:
IWK Hospital, Psychiatry, Halifax, Canada
M. Alda
Affiliation:
Nova Scotia Health Authority, Psychiatry, Halifax, Canada
R. Uher
Affiliation:
Nova Scotia Health Authority, Psychiatry, Halifax, Canada

Abstract

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Background

The association between parental severe mental illness (SMI) and depression in offspring may be due to genetic liability or adverse environments. We investigated the effect of parental SMI, SES, and adversity on depression in a sample of youth enriched for familial risk of mental illness.

Method

We assessed 217 youth (mean age 11.95, SD 4.14, range 6–24), including 167 (77%) offspring of parents with SMI. We measured exposure to childhood maltreatment and bullying with the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire (JVQ) and Childhood Experiences of Care and Abuse (CECA) interview.

Results

In total, 13.36% participants reported significant bullying and 40.76% had a history of childhood maltreatment. Rates of bullying and maltreatment were similar in offspring of parents with and without SMI. Maltreatment likelihood increased with decreasing socioeconomic status. Exposure to bullying (OR = 3.11, 95%CI 1.08–8.88, P = 0.03) predicted depression in offspring more strongly than family history of SMI in parents.

Conclusions

Adversity, such as maltreatment and bullying, has a stronger impact on the risk of developing depression than family history of mental illness in parents. These adverse experiences are associated with socioeconomic status rather than parental mental illness.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Type
e-poster walk: Child and adolescent psychiatry–Part 4
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 41 , Issue S1: Abstract of the 25th European Congress of Psychiatry , April 2017 , pp. S220
Copyright
Copyright © European Psychiatric Association 2017
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