2016 Articles

Children Of Depressed Parents—a Public Health Opportunity

Weissman, Myrna M.

One of the best-replicated findings in clinical psychiatry is that the biological offspring of depressed parents (usually mothers are studied) themselves have considerable emotional and functional problems, usually depression and anxiety. These findings have been shown cross-sectionally in infants and in prepubescent, adolescent, and adult offspring. Offspring followed up longitudinally show that their risk continues over time. The magnitude of the risk varies between 2-fold and 6-fold depending on the control group and outcome used as well as the phenotype definition.