Yale University, New Haven, USA.
Res Child Adolesc Psychopathol. 2021 Aug;49(8):1097-1110. doi: 10.1007/s10802-021-00803-2. Epub 2021 Mar 16.
Children of mothers with past depression are at increased risk for developing the disorder themselves; however, the specific factors that increase their risk are unclear. Aberrant reactivity to social experiences may be one characteristic that increases risk for depression in offspring. This study investigates whether mothers' depression history is associated with increased reactivity to criticism and decreased reactivity to praise in offspring by examining 72 youths (ages 8-15). Every evening for 21 days, youths reported their depressive symptoms and whether they were criticized and/or praised by their mothers, fathers, siblings, and friends, resulting in 1,382 data entries across participants. Mothers reported their own depression history and current depressive symptoms. Maternal depression history moderated offspring's response to criticism. Although all youths reacted to perceived criticism from family members with transient increases of depressive symptoms, only children of mothers with higher (vs. lower) levels of past depression exhibited cumulative, person-level associations between perceived criticism and their own depressive symptoms. Additionally, only children of depressed mothers exhibited increases in depressive symptoms on days in which they were criticized by friends. Perceived parental praise was associated with lower levels of depression in youths regardless of maternal depression. Youth depressive symptoms were more strongly related to their parents' (vs. siblings or friends) criticism and praise, highlighting parents' more central role in youth depression risk. Taken together, our results reveal that maternal depression history is associated with increased reactivity to perceived criticism across relational contexts potentially contributing to youths' risk for developing depression.
患有既往抑郁症的母亲所生的子女自身患该病的风险增加；然而，增加其风险的具体因素尚不清楚。对社交体验的异常反应可能是增加子女患抑郁症风险的一个特征。本研究通过检查 72 名（8-15 岁）青少年，调查了母亲的抑郁史是否与子女对批评的反应增强和对表扬的反应减弱有关。在 21 天的时间里，青少年每天晚上都会报告自己的抑郁症状，以及他们是否受到母亲、父亲、兄弟姐妹和朋友的批评和/或表扬，导致参与者共记录了 1382 条数据。母亲报告了自己的抑郁史和当前的抑郁症状。母亲的抑郁史调节了子女对批评的反应。尽管所有青少年对来自家庭成员的感知批评都会产生短暂的抑郁症状增加，但只有母亲过去抑郁程度较高（而非较低）的孩子，在感知批评与自身抑郁症状之间存在累积的个体水平关联。此外，只有抑郁母亲的孩子在被朋友批评的日子里才会出现抑郁症状的增加。无论母亲是否抑郁，青少年感知到的父母表扬都与较低水平的抑郁相关。青少年的抑郁症状与父母（而非兄弟姐妹或朋友）的批评和表扬更为相关，这突显了父母在青少年抑郁风险中的更核心作用。总之，我们的研究结果表明，母亲的抑郁史与跨关系背景下对感知批评的反应增强有关，这可能导致子女患抑郁症的风险增加。
