Childhood maladaptive coping mechanisms and the subsequent development of depression

Depression is a major source of symptoms and disability. In adults, maladaptive coping (usually characterized as personality dysfunction) has been shown to be associated with a depression diagnosis and poorer depression outcome. As adults with maladaptive coping difficulties are more prone to depression, we hypothesized that children with childhood disorders that involve poor coping would increase the risk of later developing depressive disorders.

Longitudinal studies of conduct disorder (CD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and Disruptive Disorder (DD) that included a later measure of depressive disorder were reviewed. Meta-analyses of CD and ODD + DD were performed to predict increased odds of depression.

Eight longitudinal studies were found where there was a measure of CD followed by depressive disorder assessment and nine studies for the variables ODD + DD. All of these studies showed these diagnoses were a significant risk factor for later depression. For the studies included in the meta-analysis CD predicted depression OR = 3.9 (1.6-9.3) (six studies), while ODD + DD also predicted depression OR = 5.6 (2.7-11.8) (five studies).

Childhood disorders with maladaptive coping may increase the odds of later development of a depressive disorder diagnosis. If so, these diagnoses might also indicate an early intervention possibility to prevent depression.