We conducted cross-lagged panel models to examine reciprocal relations between parent and child depressive symptoms and authoritarian-parenting behaviors across development in a community sample of 599 youths (89.1% White, 7.7% Black/African American, 2.3% Asian, 0.7% multiracial/other; 65.3% had at least one parent with a 4-year college degree). Mothers and fathers completed self-report measures about their own depressive symptoms and authoritarian-parenting behaviors during the years their children were 3 to 15 years old. Child depressive symptoms were assessed with a developmentally appropriate semistructured clinical interview at all time points. Results demonstrated reciprocal pathways between maternal and child depressive symptoms from ages 3 to 15 years serial mediators. Moreover, although child depressive symptoms at age 3 years led to greater maternal and paternal negative authoritarian parenting from ages 3 to 15 years, these effects were not reciprocal. Pathways between paternal and child depressive symptoms were not observed. Our findings highlight the importance of examining reciprocal pathways to identify mechanisms in the development of depression within families.
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Background In recent years, epidemiological and clinical studies have revealed that depressive disorders can present in early childhood. To clarify the validity and prognostic significance of early childhood‐onset depression, we investigated diagnostic and functional outcomes in later childhood and adolescence.
Methods A community sample (
N = 516) was assessed for psychopathology at ages 3 and 6 using the Preschool Age Psychiatric Assessment. When participants were 9, 12, and 15 years old, children and parents completed the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia and measures of symptoms and functioning.Results In models adjusting for covariates, depressed 3/6‐year‐old children were more likely to experience subsequent episodes of depressive disorders and exhibited significantly higher rates of later anxiety disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and suicidality compared to children without depressive disorders at age 3/6. Early childhood depression was also associated with higher levels of mother, but not child, reported depressive symptoms at age 15 compared to children without depressive disorders at age 3/6. Finally, depression at age 3/6 predicted lower levels of global and interpersonal functioning and higher rates of treatment at age 15 compared to children without depressive disorders at age 3/6.
Conclusions Results support the clinical significance of depression in 3/6‐year‐old children, although further studies with larger samples are needed.
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Background Irritable mood is a transdiagnostic clinical feature that is present in multiple psychiatric disorders. Although irritability is frequently examined as a unitary construct, two dimensions of irritability, tonic (i.e., irritable mood) and phasic (i.e., temper outbursts), have been hypothesized. However, few studies have examined whether tonic and phasic irritability are empirically separable and predict different forms of psychopathology.
Methods We utilized data from a longitudinal study of a community sample of 550 girls (age 13.5–15.5 years) followed at 9‐month intervals for 3 years. We conducted exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using items from three self‐report inventories: the International Personality Item Pool Anger scale, Temperament and Affectivity Inventory Anger scale, and Buss‐Perry Aggression Questionnaire Anger scale.
Results The EFA identified dimensions that were consistent with tonic and phasic irritability. Tonic irritability at baseline independently predicted the development of depressive disorders and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) in subsequent waves. Phasic irritability independently predicted a decreased probability of GAD, but an increased probability of oppositional defiant, conduct, and substance use disorder, and greater risky sexual behavior and relational aggression during the follow‐up.
Conclusions Tonic and phasic irritability appear to be separable constructs with unique implications for later psychopathology and related behavior among adolescent girls. It is important to consider this distinction in research on the etiology and pathophysiology of irritability and developing effective treatments.
