Division of Epidemiology, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York; College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York.
Depress Anxiety. 2014 Jan;31(1):63-71. doi: 10.1002/da.22131. Epub 2013 May 29.
Recent findings suggest that beliefs about religious or spiritual importance or attending religious/spiritual services may protect high-risk offspring against depression. This research has not extended to examining religiosity in relation to psychosocial functioning in high-risk offspring.
Offspring selected for having a depressed parent and offspring of nondepressed parents were evaluated for lifetime major depressive disorder (MDD) in childhood and adolescence, and at 10-year (T10) and 20-year (T20) follow-ups. Relations between self-reported religiosity at T10 and longitudinal change in psychosocial function from T10 to T20 (assessed by clinical ratings on Global Assessment Scale [GAS]) were examined separately in 109 daughters and 76 sons by risk status.
Lifetime MDD was diagnosed in 57.8% of daughters and 40.8% of sons by T20. Among daughters, only those with lifetime MDD showed improved psychosocial functioning in relation to higher level of service attendance at T10, their mean GAS score improving by 3.5 points (P = .018) over the next decade. For daughters with and without lifetime MDD, relations between higher levels of religiosity and improved psychosocial function were of greater magnitude in those with a depressed parent. Among sons, only those with lifetime MDD showed improved psychosocial function in relation to higher level of religious/spiritual importance, their mean GAS score improving by 4.6 points (P < .0001) over the next decade; that relation was of greater magnitude in sons with both lifetime MDD and a depressed parent.
Greater improvement in psychosocial functioning in relation to religious involvement in more vulnerable offspring supports religiosity as a resilience factor.
最近的研究结果表明，对宗教或精神重要性的信仰或参加宗教/精神服务可能会保护高危后代免受抑郁的影响。这项研究尚未扩展到检查与高危后代的心理社会功能相关的宗教信仰。
选择有抑郁父母的后代和无抑郁父母的后代，在儿童和青少年时期评估终生重性抑郁障碍（MDD），并在 10 年（T10）和 20 年（T20）随访时评估。在按风险状况分别评估了 109 名女儿和 76 名儿子后，分别在 T10 时自我报告的宗教信仰与从 T10 到 T20 的心理社会功能的纵向变化之间的关系（通过全球评估量表[GAS]的临床评分评估）。
在 T20 时，有 57.8%的女儿和 40.8%的儿子被诊断为终生 MDD。在女儿中，只有那些在 T10 时参加更多宗教服务的患者的心理社会功能得到改善，她们的平均 GAS 评分在接下来的十年中提高了 3.5 分（P=0.018）。对于患有和不患有终生 MDD 的女儿，与宗教信仰程度较高相关的心理社会功能改善程度在有抑郁父母的女儿中更大。在儿子中，只有那些患有终生 MDD 的儿子的心理社会功能才与宗教/精神重要性的提高相关，他们的平均 GAS 评分在接下来的十年中提高了 4.6 分（P<0.0001）；在患有终生 MDD 和有抑郁父母的儿子中，这种关系的幅度更大。
与宗教参与相关的心理社会功能的更大改善支持了宗教信仰作为一种适应力因素。
