This study examined whether improvement in parents' depression was linked with changes in their children's depressive symptoms and functioning. Participants were 223 parents and children ranging in age from 7-17 years old (Mean=12.13, SD=2.31); 126 parents were in treatment for depression and 97 parents were nondepressed. Children were evaluated six times over two years. Changes in parents' depressive symptoms predicted changes in children's depressive symptoms over and above the effect of time; children's symptoms significantly predicted parents' symptoms. Trajectories of children's depressive symptoms differed significantly for children of remitted versus nonremitted depressed parents, and these differences were significantly predicted by their parents' level of depression. The relation between parents' and children's depressive symptoms was partially mediated by parental acceptance.Depression is a common psychiatric disorder in adults that presents a great cost to society in terms of dysfunctional interpersonal relationships (e.g., parenting), reduced work productivity, and increased utilization of medical and mental health services (Murray & Lopez, 1996). In adults, the population incidence of depressive disorders in a given year is 9.5% (Kessler, Chiu, Demler, & Walters, 2005b); lifetime prevalence rates are about 18% (Kessler et al., 2005a), with the highest rates in women during the years they are bearing and raising children (Heneghan, Silver, Westbrook, Bauman, & Stein, 1998;Kessler, 2003).Offspring of depressed parents are at significantly greater risk of developing depression and other psychiatric disorders, cognitive and medical difficulties, and impaired academic and social functioning compared to offspring of nondepressed parents (Beardslee, Versage, & Gladstone, 1998;Goodman & Gotlib, 1999; Hay et al., 2001;Kramer et al., 1998;Lieb Isensee, Hofler, Pfister, & Wittchen, 2002). Moreover, depressive disorders among high-risk offspring continue into adulthood (Weissman et al., 2006a) and across multiple generations Please direct correspondence to: Judy Garber, Department of Psychology & Human Development, Vanderbilt University, 552 Peabody, 230 Appleton Place, Nashville, TN 37203-5721, judy.garber@vanderbilt.edu. NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptChild Dev. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2012 January 1. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript (Weissman et al., 2005). Increased risk to offspring of depressed parents has been reported in infants through adolescents, boys and girls, and for both depressed mothers and fathers (Beardslee et al., 1998;Connell & Goodman, 2002;Goodman & Gotlib, 1999;Kane & Garber, 2004).Fortunately, depression in adults is treatable. Various interventions have been found to be efficacious in reducing depression in adults including pharmacotherapy, cognitive, behavioral, and interpersonal psychotherapies (Dimidjian et al., 2006;Hollon, Thase, & Markowitz, 2002;Weissman, Markowitz, & Klerman, 2000). In general, about 60-70% of de...
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