SAFETYLIT WEEKLY UPDATE

We compile citations and summaries of about 400 new articles every week.
RSS Feed

HELP: Tutorials | FAQ
CONTACT US: Contact info

Search Results

Journal Article

Citation

Roberts AL, Chen Y, Slopen N, McLaughlin KA, Koenen KC, Austin SB. Depress. Anxiety 2015; 32(10): 709-719.

Affiliation

Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/da.22395

PMID

26220852

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Intergenerational effects of child abuse have been documented, but it is unknown whether maternal childhood abuse influences offspring mental health in adolescence or adulthood.

METHODS: To examine whether maternal experience of childhood abuse is associated with depressive symptoms in adolescent and young adult offspring, we linked data from two large longitudinal cohorts of women (N = 8,882) and their offspring (N = 11,402), and we examined three possible pathways by which maternal experience of abuse might be associated with offspring depressive symptoms: maternal mental health, family characteristics, and offspring's own experience of abuse.

RESULTS: Offspring of women who experienced severe versus no childhood abuse had greater likelihood of high depressive symptoms (RR = 1.78, 95% CI = 1.47, 2.16) and persistent high depressive symptoms (RR = 2.47, 95% CI = 1.37, 4.44). Maternal mental health accounted for 20.9% and offspring's exposure to abuse accounted for 30.3% of the elevated risk of high depressive symptoms. Disparities in offspring depressive symptoms by maternal abuse exposure were evident at age 12 years and persisted through age 31 years.

CONCLUSIONS: Findings provide evidence that childhood abuse adversely affects the mental health of the victim's offspring well into adulthood. As offspring exposure to abuse and maternal mental health accounted for more than 50% of the elevated risk of high depressive symptoms among offspring of women who experienced abuse, improving maternal mental health and parenting practices may reduce offspring risk for depressive symptoms in these families.


Language: en

NEW SEARCH


All SafetyLit records are available for automatic download to Zotero & Mendeley
Print