Mace Katia, Sifaki Maria, Midouhas Emily, Flouri Eirini, Papachristou Efstathios
UCL Institute of Education, London, United Kingdom.
UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, London, United Kingdom.
JAACAP Open. 2024 Jul 8;3(3):634-644. doi: 10.1016/j.jaacop.2024.05.003. eCollection 2025 Sep.
Investigations of the influence of parental psychological distress on depression in offspring have largely focused on maternal, rather than paternal, symptoms. This study examined how psychological distress trajectories of both fathers and mothers across their child's preschool and primary school years relate to depressive symptoms of the child in adolescence. The aim was to assess whether maternal and paternal psychological distress symptoms develop in parallel during the childhood years and how each parent's symptoms may influence their adolescent's symptoms.
The sample comprised 8,888 Millennium Cohort Study families. Parental psychological distress was measured using the 6-item Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K6) at offspring ages 3, 5, 7, and 11 years. At age 14 years, the child's depressive symptoms were measured with the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ). Parallel process latent growth curves examined unfolding of maternal and paternal psychological distress symptoms and assessed whether growth parameters (intercepts and slopes) of each parent's trajectory predicted adolescent SMFQ scores.
Intercepts and slopes of maternal and paternal symptom trajectories were positively correlated, indicating parallel development. The maternal and paternal intercepts were independently predictive of adolescent SMFQ scores, as was the maternal, but not the paternal, slope after adjustment for confounding.
Maternal and paternal psychological distress symptoms develop in parallel from early to late childhood. Higher levels of psychological distress experienced by either parent in the early years and increasing levels of maternal symptoms across childhood predict higher levels of offspring depression in adolescence. These findings highlight the importance of early intervention targeting psychological distress of both parents of young children.
关于父母心理困扰对子女抑郁影响的研究主要集中在母亲而非父亲的症状上。本研究考察了孩子在学前和小学阶段父母双方的心理困扰轨迹与孩子青春期抑郁症状之间的关系。目的是评估母亲和父亲的心理困扰症状在童年时期是否平行发展，以及每位家长的症状如何影响其青少年子女的症状。
样本包括8888个千禧队列研究家庭。在子女3岁、5岁、7岁和11岁时，使用6项凯斯勒心理困扰量表（K6）测量父母的心理困扰程度。在孩子14岁时，用简短情绪和情感问卷（SMFQ）测量其抑郁症状。平行过程潜在增长曲线考察了母亲和父亲心理困扰症状的发展情况，并评估了每位家长轨迹的增长参数（截距和斜率）是否能预测青少年的SMFQ得分。
母亲和父亲症状轨迹的截距和斜率呈正相关，表明平行发展。在调整混杂因素后，母亲和父亲的截距均能独立预测青少年的SMFQ得分，母亲的斜率也能预测，但父亲的斜率不能。
从童年早期到晚期，母亲和父亲的心理困扰症状平行发展。早年父母任何一方经历的较高水平心理困扰以及童年时期母亲症状水平的增加，都预示着青少年子女更高水平的抑郁。这些发现凸显了针对幼儿父母心理困扰进行早期干预的重要性。
