Navarro Marie C, de Roo Marthe, Oldehinkel Albertine J, Hartman Catharina A, Kretschmer Tina
Faculty of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Department of Pedagogy and Educational Sciences, https://ror.org/012p63287University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Department of Psychiatry, https://ror.org/012p63287University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Psychol Med. 2025 Sep 8;55:e263. doi: 10.1017/S0033291725101633.
Depression runs in families, with both genetic and environmental mechanisms contributing to intergenerational continuity, though these mechanisms have often been studied separately. This study examined the interplay between genetic and environmental influences in the intergenerational continuity of depressive symptoms from parents to offspring.
Using data from the Dutch TRAILS cohort ( = 2201), a prospective, genetically informed, multiple-generation study, we examined the association between parents' self-reported depressive symptoms (reported at mean age of 41 years) and offspring depressive symptoms, self-reported nearly two decades later, in adulthood (mean age: 29 years). We assessed the role of genetic (polygenic scores for depressive symptoms in parents and offspring) and environmental mechanisms (parental warmth during adolescence) in explaining intergenerational continuity of depressive symptoms in separate and combined models.
Parents' depressive symptoms, offspring genetic predisposition, and parental warmth were associated with an increased risk of depressive symptoms in offspring. In the combined model, parents' genetic predisposition was linked to their own depressive symptoms, which were linked to lower parental warmth, which, in turn, was linked to higher depressive symptoms in offspring, after accounting for offspring genetic predisposition, sex, age, and socioeconomic status.
Both genetic and environmental mechanisms contribute to the intergenerational continuity of depressive symptoms independently and in interplay. Despite a significant effect, the influence of parental warmth was modest, suggesting limited covariation between this particular parenting measure and depressive symptoms, at least when assessed with large temporal distance.
抑郁症具有家族遗传性，遗传和环境机制都对代际延续有影响，不过这些机制通常是分开研究的。本研究考察了遗传和环境影响在抑郁症状从父母到子女的代际延续中的相互作用。
利用荷兰TRAILS队列研究（n = 2201）的数据，这是一项前瞻性、有基因信息的多代研究，我们考察了父母自我报告的抑郁症状（在平均41岁时报告）与近二十年后子女成年期（平均年龄：29岁）自我报告的抑郁症状之间的关联。我们在单独和联合模型中评估了遗传（父母和子女抑郁症状的多基因分数）和环境机制（青春期父母的温暖程度）在解释抑郁症状代际延续中的作用。
父母的抑郁症状、子女的遗传易感性和父母的温暖程度都与子女抑郁症状风险增加有关。在联合模型中，父母的遗传易感性与他们自己的抑郁症状相关，这又与较低的父母温暖程度相关，而较低的父母温暖程度反过来又与子女较高的抑郁症状相关，同时考虑了子女的遗传易感性、性别、年龄和社会经济地位。
遗传和环境机制都独立且相互作用地对抑郁症状的代际延续有影响。尽管有显著影响，但父母温暖程度的影响较小，表明这种特定的养育方式与抑郁症状之间的协变有限，至少在较大时间间隔评估时是这样。
