Although a number of theorists have hypothesized a link between negative experiences during childhood (e.g., abuse) and the presence of psychopathology in adults, little is known about the relative specificity of childhood emotional, physical, or sexual abuse to different forms of psychopathology. In this study, we hypothesized that adult psychiatric outpatients' reports of childhood emotional abuse would exhibit a specific relationship with diagnoses of depression. Analyses partially supported our hypothesis. Specifically, diagnoses of major depression were significantly more strongly related to reports of childhood emotional abuse than to physical or sexual abuse. However, the same effect was observed for social phobia. In addition, patients with major depression reported equivalent levels of childhood emotional abuse as patients with social phobia, but lower levels of emotional abuse than those with posttraumatic stress disorder.

We examined the roles of specific cognitive (attentional bias) and genetic (5-HTTLPR) risk factors in the intergenerational transmission of depression. Focusing first on the link between maternal history of major depressive disorder (MDD) and children’s attentional biases, we found that children of mothers with a history of MDD during their children’s lives, compared to children of mothers with no depression history, exhibited greater attentional avoidance of sad faces. This attention bias was specific to sad, rather than happy or angry, faces. There was also preliminary evidence that this relation is stronger among children carrying the 5-HTTLPR S or LG allele than among those homozygous for the LA allele. Next, conceptualizing mothers’ levels of depressive symptoms during the multi-wave prospective follow-up within a vulnerability-stress framework, we found evidence for a three-way child 5-HTTLPR × attentional bias × mother depressive symptom interaction predicting children’s depressive symptoms. Specifically, the relation between mother and child depressive symptom levels over time was strongest among children carrying the 5-HTTLPR S or LG allele who also exhibited attentional avoidance of sad faces. These findings provide initial support for role of children’s 5-HTTLPR genotype and attentional biases for sad faces in the intergenerational transmission of depression.

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In this article, we review empirical research on the role of individuals' parenting and maltreatment histories as developmental antecedents for symptoms and diagnosable episodes of unipolar and bipolar spectrum disorders. Our review is focused on the following three overarching questions: (1) Do negative parenting and a history of maltreatment contribute risk to symptoms or diagnosable episodes of unipolar and bipolar disorders? (2) Are the associations of negative parenting and maltreatment histories with bipolar disorders similar to those for unipolar depression? and (3) Are the associations between negative parenting and maltreatment histories and unipolar and bipolar symptoms or disorders mediated by cognitive vulnerability to depression? We begin by discussing the methodological requirements for demonstrating a psychosocial risk factor and the methodological issues that plague the parenting and maltreatment literatures. Next, we review the extant studies on the role of parenting histories in unipolar and bipolar disorders. We consider the specificity and possible moderators of the parenting-mood disorder relationship, as well as cognitive vulnerability to depression as a mediator of this relationship. Then, we review studies on the association of maltreatment histories with unipolar and bipolar disorders and the role of cognitive vulnerability to depression as a mediator of this association. We conclude with an assessment of the state of the parenting and maltreatment literatures in unipolar and bipolar disorder with regard to our guiding questions.

Findings from a study comparing partner abuse in African American women suicide attempters (n = 148) and nonattempters (n = 137) revealed higher rates of physical and nonphysical partner abuse among attempters than their demographically similar nonsuicidal counterparts. The partner abuse--suicidal behavior link was mediated by psychological distress, hopelessness, and drug use and moderated by social support. Results also revealed that nonphysical partner abuse accounted for unique variance in the prediction of suicide attempt status beyond that attributable to childhood maltreatment. Implications of the findings for assessing both suicidal and abused women are discussed, and recommendations for preventive interventions for women at risk for suicidal behavior are provided.