The University of Melbourne, Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, The Royal Children's Hospital Campus, Parkville Victoria Australia.
Deakin University Geelong, Centre for Social and Early Emotional Development, School of Psychology, Faculty of Health, Victoria Australia; Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Centre for Adolescent Health, The Royal Children's Hospital Campus, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
J Affect Disord. 2020 Jul 1;272:521-528. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2020.03.101. Epub 2020 Apr 29.
Parental depression and anxiety have been consistently linked to offspring behavior problems across childhood. However, many of the risks for these common mental health problems are established well before pregnancy. This study takes advantage of rare, prospective data to examine relations between parental mental health histories (from adolescence onwards) and next generation offspring behavior problems.
Data were drawn from a multi-generational cohort study that has followed Australians from infancy to adulthood since 1983, and 1171 of their offspring assessed prospectively from pregnancy. Generalized estimating equation models were used to estimate associations between parents' depression/anxiety symptoms in adolescence and young adulthood and offspring behavior problems at 1 year.
In analyses of 648 mother-infant and 423 father-infant dyads, after adjustment for confounders and concurrent mental health problems, mean behavior problem scores in infants of mothers with a history of mental health problems in both adolescence and young adulthood were over half a standard deviation higher than those of mothers without problems during these periods, B = 2.19, 95% CI 1.21 - 3.17, β = 0.52. No association was observed for fathers.
We only included infants born to participants aged 29-35 years and we assessed behavior problems via parent-report.
A mother's history of persistent depression and anxiety from adolescence to young adulthood can predict higher levels of behavior problems in her infant. Findings support calls for greater policy and prevention focus on preconception and postnatal mental health, particularly a mother's early emotional health history, prior to parenthood.
父母的抑郁和焦虑与子女在整个儿童期的行为问题一直密切相关。然而，许多常见心理健康问题的风险早在怀孕前就已经存在。本研究利用罕见的前瞻性数据，考察了父母心理健康史（从青春期开始）与下一代子女行为问题之间的关系。
数据来自一项多代队列研究，该研究自 1983 年以来一直跟踪澳大利亚人从婴儿期到成年期，其中 1171 名子女在怀孕期间进行了前瞻性评估。广义估计方程模型用于估计父母在青春期和青年期的抑郁/焦虑症状与婴儿 1 岁时的行为问题之间的关联。
在对 648 对母婴和 423 对父子的分析中，在调整混杂因素和同期心理健康问题后，有心理健康问题史的母亲的婴儿的平均行为问题评分比这些时期没有问题的母亲高出半个标准差以上，B=2.19，95%CI 1.21-3.17，β=0.52。对于父亲则没有观察到这种关联。
我们只纳入了年龄在 29-35 岁的参与者所生的婴儿，并且通过父母报告评估行为问题。
母亲从青春期到青年期持续的抑郁和焦虑史可以预测她的婴儿行为问题水平更高。研究结果支持呼吁在怀孕前和产后加强政策和预防措施，特别关注母亲的早期情绪健康史，以预防这些问题。
