Resilience to maternal depression in young adulthood

Using a prospective longitudinal design, this study investigated factors associated with resilience in 20-year-old offspring of depressed mothers (n = 648). Resilient youth were operationally defined as those whose mothers were depressed but who themselves had no history of recurrent depression and currently evidenced adequate academic or work and romantic functioning, no Axis I psychopathology, and no clinically significant internalizing behavior problems. Low levels of perceived maternal psychological control (p = .02) and high child IQ (p < .01) acted as protective factors in the context of maternal depression. Low paternal psychological control (p = .02), high maternal warmth (p < .01), high self-esteem (p < .01), and healthy peer social functioning (p < .01) all acted as resource factors predicting high functioning outcomes for young adults, regardless of mother depression status. Notably, high child IQ acted as a protective factor predicting resilient outcomes that persisted from adolescence to adulthood (p < .01), and low maternal psychological control acted as a protective factor predicting resilient outcomes that emerged in early adulthood (p = .03). Interventions focused on these 2 protective factors might yield the strongest benefits for offspring of depressed mothers as they transition to early adulthood.