Maternal Depressive Symptoms During Childhood and Risky Adolescent Health Behaviors

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Maternal depression is a risk factor for adolescent depression; however, the effect of childhood exposure to maternal depression on adolescent engagement in health risk behaviors (eg, substance use, delinquency) is unclear. METHODS:We examined the relationship between maternal depressive symptoms (child's age 4-15) and engagement in health risk behaviors at age 16 to 17 by using data from 2910 mother-youth pairs in a nationally representative prospective Canadian cohort. Maternal depressive trajectories were estimated through finite mixture modeling, and multiple regression analyses examined the relationship between maternal depressive symptoms and engagement in various health risk behaviors (linear regression) and age of debut of various behaviors (Cox regression).RESULTS: Five trajectories of maternal depressive symptoms were found: recurrent maternal symptoms, midchildhood exposure to maternal symptoms, adolescent exposure to maternal symptoms, mild maternal symptoms, and low symptoms. Adolescents exposed to maternal depressive symptoms during middle childhood were more likely to use common substances (alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana), engage in violent and nonviolent delinquent behavior, and have an earlier debut ages of cigarette, alcohol, marijuana, and hallucinogen use. CONCLUSIONS:The results of this study suggest that exposure to maternal depressive symptoms, particularly in middle childhood, is associated with greater and earlier engagement in health risk behaviors. WHAT'S KNOWN ON THIS SUBJECT:Maternal depression has been associated with adolescent engagement in risky behaviors such as substance use. However, there is a lack of longitudinal research examining timing-specific effects in this relationship. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS:The results of this study indicate that youth exposed to increasing levels of maternal depressive symptoms in middle childhood are more likely to engage in substance use and delinquent behaviors and have an earlier debut age of these behaviors.

Heterogeneity in long-term trajectories of depressive symptoms: Patterns, predictors and outcomes

“…They also found that a high-chronic trajectory in mothers was associated with lower behavioral competence in children relative to the low stable class. Wickham et al (2015) found that maternal depressive symptom trajectories, particularly trajectories with high symptoms during middle childhood, were associated with risky health behaviors in adolescent offspring including common and illicit drug use, nonviolent delinquent behavior and violent delinquency.…”

“…The majority of the studies included information on both males and females, however 7 studies included only female participants (Byers et al, 2012; Campbell, Matestic, von Stauffenberg, Mohan, & Kirchner, 2007; Gross, Shaw, Burwell, & Nagin, 2009; Luoma, Korhonen, Salmelin, Helminen, & Tamminen, 2015; Matijasevich et al, 2015; van der Waerden et al, 2015; Wickham, Senthilselvan, Wild, Hoglund, & Colman, 2015) and one study only included male participants (Stoolmiller, Kim, & Capaldi, 2005). The most common measure of depressive symptoms was the Centers for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D).…”

“…The proportion of individuals falling in unstable trajectory classes was highly variable, ranging from 2.4–37% for increasing symptoms and from 2.7–71% for decreasing symptoms. Other trajectory patterns, such as U shaped (Campbell et al, 2007) or reverse U shaped (Wickham et al, 2015) were rare.…”

Depression and cigarette smoking behavior: A critical review of population-based studies

“…Otherwise, the remaining studies that examined gender in the relationship between MDD/depressive symptoms and smoking behavior found that depressed boys and girls reported significantly higher rates of ever and current smoking than those without depression (49)(50)(51)(52). Finally, a recent nationally representative prospective Canadian study (54) found that adolescents exposed to maternal depressive symptoms in middle childhood were significantly more likely to ever smoke and to initiate smoking at an earlier age than adolescents exposed to few maternal depressive symptoms.…”

Cocaína durante la gestación y conducta materna postparto en ratones

“…Por esta razón, desde el nacimiento empieza la relación interpersonal más importante, en la cual la madre provee a los neonatos de los cuidados necesarios para sobrevivir y madurar (Alsina-Llanes, Brun & Olazábal, 2015;Wickham, Senthilselvan, Wild, Hoglund & Colman, 2015), y, al mismo tiempo, regula las respuestas emocionales que favorecen el adecuado crecimiento y desarrollo cognitivo (atención, memoria, aprendizaje, etc. ) de los recién nacidos (Kristal, 2009).…”