Sabalbal Ahmad, El Hayek Samer, Baroud Evelyne, Shamseddeen Wael
Department of Psychiatry, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon.
American Center for Psychiatry and Neurology, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Front Psychiatry. 2025 Jul 8;16:1605718. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1605718. eCollection 2025.
Parental depression is an important risk factor for the development of psychopathology in children/adolescents. Many children who suffer from psychopathology also experience emotion dysregulation, which is characterized by an inability to modulate the intensity and quality of emotions. Emotion dysregulation carries high morbidity and predicts ongoing mood/behavior problems. To develop more effective intervention and prevention programs, it is important to understand the variables that mediate and moderate the relationship between parental depression and children's emotion dysregulation. This study aimed to systematically explore possible mediators and moderators.
The PubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO, and Embase databases were systematically searched from day of inception until January 12, 2024. The reference lists of the reviews of interest identified during the screening were included. Two authors screened/collected articles through title and abstract screening, followed by full-text screening. The results were qualitatively synthesized. The inclusion criteria were: , children/adolescents (aged 0-17 years); , parental depression; , emotion dysregulation; and , quantitative.
A total of 1,731 studies were identified, of which 556 were potentially eligible. After removing duplicates/retracted articles, 380 records were screened (title/abstract), following which 315 records were excluded. Of the remaining 65 studies, eight met the inclusion criteria after full-text screening. Most of the studies ( = 6) included mothers. Biological variables and variables related to the child, to parental depression severity, and to child-parent interactions emerged. The biological variables (the child's genotype and left parietal alpha asymmetry) highlight a biological vulnerability to dysregulation beyond parent-child effects and environmental factors: left parietal alpha asymmetry was a partial mediator, while genotype was a moderator as children carriers of the S/LG genotypes experienced higher levels of dysregulation as a function of exposure to higher levels of prenatal maternal depression. Depression severity and parent-child dyadic variability were moderators as elevated levels of dysregulation among girls were predicted by greater maternal depression severity and mothers who were more inconsistent in parenting behaviors were more likely to have toddlers with dysregulation, especially if the mothers were depressed. Diet was a mediator, and more severely depressed mothers were more likely to feed their children unhealthy diets, in turn leading to greater dysregulation in later years. Parenting stress mediated the relationship between maternal depression and dysregulation in toddlers.
Children of depressed parents are a vulnerable group and are prone to developing emotion dysregulation. The findings suggest that prevention/intervention programs should target the children of more severely depressed parents and those of parents who engage in more negative interactions with them. Children's diet and parenting stress are also potential evidence-based, modifiable intervention targets.
https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/, identifier CRD42024502390.
父母抑郁是儿童/青少年心理病理学发展的重要危险因素。许多患有心理病理学的儿童也经历情绪失调，其特征是无法调节情绪的强度和质量。情绪失调发病率高，并预示着持续的情绪/行为问题。为了制定更有效的干预和预防计划，了解介导和调节父母抑郁与儿童情绪失调之间关系的变量非常重要。本研究旨在系统探索可能的中介因素和调节因素。
从数据库创建之日至2024年1月12日，对PubMed、Scopus、PsycINFO和Embase数据库进行系统检索。纳入在筛选过程中确定的相关综述的参考文献列表。两名作者通过标题和摘要筛选来筛选/收集文章，随后进行全文筛选。对结果进行定性综合分析。纳入标准为：，儿童/青少年（0至17岁）；，父母抑郁；，情绪失调；以及，定量研究。
共识别出1731项研究，其中556项可能符合条件。在去除重复/撤回的文章后，筛选了380条记录（标题/摘要），之后排除了315条记录。在其余65项研究中，8项在全文筛选后符合纳入标准。大多数研究（ = 6）纳入了母亲。出现了生物学变量以及与儿童、父母抑郁严重程度和亲子互动相关的变量。生物学变量（儿童的基因型和左顶叶阿尔法不对称性）凸显了除亲子效应和环境因素之外的情绪失调的生物学易感性：左顶叶阿尔法不对称性是部分中介因素，而基因型是调节因素，因为携带S/LG基因型的儿童随着产前母亲抑郁程度的升高，情绪失调水平更高。抑郁严重程度和亲子二元变异性是调节因素，因为母亲抑郁严重程度越高，预测女孩的情绪失调水平越高，并且育儿行为更不一致的母亲更有可能育有情绪失调的幼儿，尤其是当母亲抑郁时。饮食是中介因素，抑郁更严重的母亲更有可能给孩子喂食不健康的饮食，进而导致孩子在以后的岁月中情绪失调程度更高。育儿压力介导了母亲抑郁与幼儿情绪失调之间的关系。
父母抑郁的儿童是弱势群体，容易出现情绪失调。研究结果表明，预防/干预计划应针对父母抑郁更严重以及与孩子有更多负面互动的父母的孩子。儿童的饮食和育儿压力也是基于证据的、可改变的潜在干预目标。
