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Behavioral and emotional disturbances in the offspring of depressed parents with anger attacks

Jonathan E Alpert1, Timothy Petersen, Pamela A Roffi

  • 1Depression Clinical and Research Program, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Mass., USA.

Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics
|February 26, 2003
PubMed

Insights

Children of parents with major depressive disorder (MDD) and anger attacks exhibit more behavioral issues. Early-onset MDD in parents with anger attacks is linked to poorer child social and school functioning.

Area of Science:

  • Child Psychology
  • Psychiatry
  • Behavioral Science

Background:

  • Parental major depressive disorder (MDD) can impact child emotional and behavioral development.
  • Anger attacks in parents with MDD may represent a distinct phenotype with unique implications for offspring.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the emotional and behavioral characteristics of children whose parents have major depressive disorder (MDD).
  • To compare offspring of depressed parents with anger attacks versus those without anger attacks.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) - Parent Report Version for 58 children (ages 6-17) of 43 parents with MDD.
  • Employed unpaired t tests to compare CBCL scale scores between offspring groups.
  • Assessed baseline demographic and clinical differences in parents.

Main Results:

  • Depressed parents with anger attacks had a younger age of onset for MDD.
  • Offspring of parents with anger attacks showed lower social and school competency.
  • Children of parents with anger attacks exhibited higher scores for delinquency, attention problems, and aggression, along with a higher global psychopathology score.

Conclusions:

  • Significant differences exist in the emotional and behavioral profiles of offspring from depressed parents with and without anger attacks.
  • These findings are crucial for identifying and developing targeted interventions for childhood problems in offspring of depressed parents.
Abstract

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