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Maternal depressive symptoms in childhood and risky behaviours in early adolescence

Eirini Flouri1, Sofia Ioakeimidi2

  • 1Department of Psychology and Human Development, UCL Institute of Education, University College London, 25 Woburn Square, London, WC1H 0AA, UK. e.flouri@ucl.ac.uk.

European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
|September 15, 2017
PubMed

Insights

Maternal depressive symptoms in childhood are linked to adolescent risky behaviors. Addressing maternal depression may reduce externalizing and health-risk behaviors in offspring.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Child Psychiatry
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Longitudinal patterns of maternal depressive symptoms are not well-understood in relation to adolescent risky behaviors.
  • Early adolescence is a critical period for the onset of detrimental behaviors like substance use and violence.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between longitudinal trajectories of maternal depressive symptoms and adolescent risky behaviors.
  • To explore the predictive role of maternal depression patterns on moral judgment and alcohol attitudes in early adolescence.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized data from the UK's Millennium Cohort Study (N=12,494).
  • Employed latent class analysis to identify distinct patterns of maternal depressive symptoms across childhood (ages 3, 5, 7, 11).
  • Modeled the impact of these maternal depression trajectories on adolescent antisocial behavior, delinquency, moral judgment, and alcohol attitudes at age 11.

Main Results:

  • Identified four longitudinal patterns of maternal depressive symptoms: chronically high, consistently low, moderate-accelerating, and moderate-decelerating.
  • Maternal depression patterns predicted adolescent antisocial behavior in males and alcohol attitudes in females, independent of covariates.
  • Males exposed to chronically high or accelerating maternal depressive symptoms showed increased engagement in rowdy behavior, alcohol use, and bullying.
  • Females exposed to chronically high maternal depressive symptoms were more likely to perceive alcohol use as harmless.

Conclusions:

  • Findings suggest a link between maternal depressive symptom trajectories and adolescent externalizing and health-risk behaviors.
  • Preventing or treating maternal depressive symptoms during childhood may be a viable strategy to mitigate future risky behaviors in offspring.
  • While causal links cannot be definitively established, the study highlights the importance of maternal mental health for child development.

Keywords:
Attitudes to alcoholMaternal depressionMoral judgementYouth risky behaviours

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