Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pjpqr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-26T23:03:20.045Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Maternal depression and trajectories of adolescent depression: The role of stress responses in youth risk and resilience

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2017

Jennifer D. Monti  and
Karen D. Rudolph
Jennifer D. Monti*
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign
Karen D. Rudolph
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Jennifer Monti, Center for Biobehavioral Health, Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, 700 Children's Drive, Columbus, OH 43205; E-mail: jennifer.monti@nationwidechildrens.org.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study examined the independent and interactive contributions of maternal depression and youth stress responses to trajectories of youth depression in adolescence. Youths (n = 165, M age = 12.43, SD = 1.18) and their maternal caregivers participated in a 4-year longitudinal study. Mothers and youths were administered diagnostic interviews assessing depression, and youths provided reports of their responses to peer stress. Consistent with an interactive model, adaptive responses to stress (high effortful engagement and low involuntary disengagement) buffered the effect of maternal depression on initial levels and trajectories of youth depression, with gender differences emerging. Consistent with a dual-risk model, maternal depression and maladaptive responses to stress (high effortful disengagement and involuntary engagement) contributed additive risks such that youths displayed the highest levels of depression when they were exposed to maternal depression and showed maladaptive stress responses. This research provides novel evidence that responses to stress contribute to individual differences in depression among offspring of depressed mothers, and suggests that responses to stress are an important target for efforts to promote resilience in at-risk youth.

Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 29 , Issue 4 , October 2017 , pp. 1413 - 1429
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

This research was supported by National Institute for Mental Health Grant MH59711, a William T. Grant Foundation Faculty Scholars Award, and a University of Illinois Arnold O. Beckman Research Award (to K.D.R.). We thank the families who participated in this study. We are grateful to Jamie Abaied, Melissa Caldwell, Alyssa Clark, Colleen Conley, Alison Dupre, Julie Eisengart, Megan Flynn, Alison Groot, Elisa Krackow, and Kathryn Kurlakowsky for their contributions to this project and Howard Berenbaum, Nancy McElwain, Eva Pomerantz, and Eva Telzer for their thoughtful comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript.

References

Abaied, J. L., & Rudolph, K. D. (2010). Mothers as a resource in times of stress: Interactive contributions of socialization of coping and stress to youth psychopathology. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 38, 273–289.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Abaied, J. L., & Rudolph, K. D. (2011). Maternal influences on youth responses to peer stress. Developmental Psychology, 47, 1776–1785.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Adrian, C., & Hammen, C. (1993). Stress exposure and stress generation in children of depressed mothers. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 61, 354–359.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Agoston, A. M., & Rudolph, K. D. (2011). Transactional associations between youths’ responses to peer stress and depression: The moderating roles of stress and stress exposure. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 39, 159–171.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text revision). Washington, DC: Author.Google Scholar
Avenevoli, S., Swendsen, J., He, J., Burstein, M., & Merikangas, K. R. (2015). Major depression in the national comorbidity survey-adolescent supplement: Prevalence, correlates, and treatment. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 54, 37–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barker, E. D., Jaffee, S. R., Uher, R., & Maughan, B. (2011). The contribution of prenatal and postnatal maternal anxiety and depression to child maladjustment. Depression and Anxiety, 28, 696–702.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barrera, M., & Garrison-Jones, C. (1992). Family and peer social support as specific correlates of adolescent depressive symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 20, 1–16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beardslee, W. R., Versage, E. M., & Gladstone, T. G. G. (1998). Children of affectively ill parents: A review of the past 10 years. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 37, 1134–1141.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beck, A. T., Rush, A. J., Shaw, B. F., & Emery, G. (1979). Cognitive therapy of depression. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Brenning, K., Soenens, B., Braet, C., & Bal, B. (2012). The role of parenting and mother-adolescent attachment in the intergenerational similarity of internalizing symptoms. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 41, 802–816.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carter, J. S., & Garber, J. (2011). Predictors of the first onset of a major depressive episode and changes in depressive symptoms across adolescence: Stress and negative cognitions. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 120, 779–796.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chang, J. J., Halpern, C. T., & Kaufman, J. S. (2007). Maternal depressive symptoms, father's involvement, and the trajectories of child problem behaviors in a US national sample. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 161, 697–703.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Rogosch, F. A. (2002). A developmental psychopathology perspective on adolescence. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 70, 6–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cicchetti, D., & Toth, S. L. (2009). A developmental psychopathology perspective on adolescent depression. In Nolen-Hoeksema, S. & Hilt, L. M. (Eds.), Handbook of depression in adolescents (pp. 3–31). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Compas, B. E., Champion, J. E., Forehand, R., Cole, D. A., Reeslund, K. L., Fear, J., … Roberts, L. (2010). Coping and parenting: Mediators of 12-month outcomes of a family group cognitive-behavioral preventive intervention with families of depressed parents. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 79, 623–634.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Compas, B. E., Connor-Smith, J. K., Saltzman, H., Thomsen, A. H., & Wadsworth, M. E. (2001). Coping with stress during childhood and adolescence: Problems, progress, and potential in theory and research. Psychological Bulletin, 127, 87–127.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Conley, C. S., & Rudolph, K. D. (2009). The emerging sex difference in adolescent depression: Interacting contributions of puberty and peer stress. Development and Psychopathology, 21, 593–620.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Connor-Smith, J. K., Compas, B. E., Wadsworth, M. E., Thomsen, A. H., & Saltzman, H. (2000). Responses to stress in adolescence: Measurement of coping and involuntary stress responses. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 68, 976–992.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Conrad, M., & Hammen, C. (1993). Protective and resource factors in high- and low-risk children: A comparison of children with unipolar, bipolar, medically ill, and normal mothers. Development and Psychopathology, 5, 593–607.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cummings, E. M., & Davies, P. T. (1994). Maternal depression and child development. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 35, 73–112.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fergusson, D. M., Horwood, L. J., Ridder, E. M., & Beautrais, A. L. (2005). Subthreshold depression in adolescence and mental health outcomes in adulthood. Archives of General Psychiatry, 62, 66–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
First, M. B., Spitzer, R. L., Gibbon, M., & Williams, J. (1996). Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM-IV Axis I Disorders—Non-patient edition (SCID-IV/NP Version 2.0). New York: New York State Psychiatric Institute, Biometrics Research Department.Google Scholar
Flynn, M., & Rudolph, K. D. (2011). Stress generation and adolescent depression: Contribution of interpersonal stress responses. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 39, 1187–1198.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garber, J., & Little, S. (1999). Predictors of competence among offspring of depressed mothers. Journal of Adolescent Research, 14, 44–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gershon, A., Schraedley-Desmond, P., Rudolph, K. D., Booster, G. D., & Gotlib, I. H. (2011). Life stress and first onset of psychiatric disorders in daughters of depressed mothers. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 45, 855–862.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goodman, S. H., & Gotlib, I. H. (1999). Risk for psychopathology in the children of depressed mothers: A developmental model for understanding mechanisms of transmission. Psychological Review, 106, 458–490.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goodman, S. H., Rouse, M. H., Connell, A. M., Broth, M. B., Hall, C. M., & Heyward, D. (2011). Maternal depression and child psychopathology: A meta-analytic review. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 14, 1–27.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gravener, J. A., Rogosh, F. A., Oshri, A., Narayan, A. J., Cicchetti, D., & Toth, S. L. (2012). The relations among maternal depressive disorder, maternal expressed emotion, and toddler behavior problems and attachment. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 40, 803–813.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hammen, C. (2009). Adolescent depression: Stressful interpersonal contexts and risks for recurrence. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18, 200–204.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hammen, C., & Brennan, P. A. (2001). Adolescents of depressed and nondepressed mothers: Tests of an interpersonal impairment hypothesis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 69, 284–294.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hammen, C., Brennan, P. A., & Keenan-Miller, D. (2008). Patterns of adolescent depression to age 20: The role of maternal depression and youth interpersonal dysfunction. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 36, 1189–1198.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hammen, C., Hazel, N. A., Brennan, P. A., & Najman, J. (2012). Intergenerational transmission and continuity of stress and depression: Depressed women and their offspring in 20 years of follow-up. Psychological Medicine, 42, 931–942.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hammen, C., Shih, J., Altman, T., & Brennan, P. A. (2003). Interpersonal impairment and the prediction of depressive symptoms in adolescent children of depressed and nondepressed mothers. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 42, 571–577.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hammen, C., Shih, J. H., & Brennan, P. A. (2004). Intergenerational transmission of depression: Test of an interpersonal stress model in a community sample. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 72, 511–522.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hankin, B. L., Abramson, L. Y., Moffitt, T. E., McGee, R., Silva, P. A., & Angell, K. E. (1998). Development of depression from preadolescence to young adulthood: Emerging gender differences in a 10-year longitudinal study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 107, 128–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hankin, B. L., Fraley, R. C., Lahey, B. B., & Waldman, I. D. (2005). Is depression best viewed as a continuum or discrete category? A taxometric analysis of childhood and adolescent depression in a population-based sample. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 114, 96–111.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hankin, B. L., Mermelstein, R., & Roesch, L. (2007). Sex differences in adolescent depression: Stress exposure and reactivity. Child Development, 78, 279–295.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hergovich, A., Sirsch, U., & Felinger, M. (2002). Self-appraisals, actual appraisals, and reflected appraisals of preadolescent children. Social Behavior and Personality, 30, 603–612.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoffman, M. A., Levy-Shiff, R., Sohlberg, S. C., & Zarizki, J. (1992). The impact of stress and coping: Developmental changes in the transition to adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 21, 451–469.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jaser, S. S., Champion, J. E., Reeslund, K. L., Keller, G., Merchant, M. J., Benson, M., & Compas, B. E. (2007). Cross-situational coping with peer and family stressors in adolescent offspring of depressed parents. Journal of Adolescence, 30, 917–932.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jaser, S. S., Langrock, A. M., Keller, G., Merchang, M. J., Benson, M. A., Reeslund, K., Champion, J. E., & Compas, B. E. (2005). Coping with the stress of parental depression II: Adolescent and parent reports of coping and adjustment. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 34, 193–205.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jenkins, J. M., & Curwen, T. (2008). Change in adolescents’ internalizing symptomology as a function of sex and the timing of maternal depression symptomology. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 47, 399–405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kessler, R. C., Avenevoli, S., & Merikangas, R. (2001). Mood disorders in children and adolescents: An epidemiologic perspective. Biological Psychiatry, 49, 1002–1014.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Klein, D. N., Ouimette, P. C., Kelly, H. S., Ferro, T., & Riso, L. P. (1994). Test–retest reliability of team consensus best-estimate diagnoses of Axis I and II disorders in a family study. American Journal of Psychiatry, 151, 1043–1047.Google Scholar
Kovacs, M. (1992). The Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) manual. New York: Multi-Health Systems.Google Scholar
Langrock, A. M., Compas, B. E., Keller, G., Merchant, M. J., & Copeland, M. E. (2002). Coping with the stress of parental depression: Parents’ reports of children's coping, emotional, and behavioral problems. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 31, 312–324.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, C. M., & Gotlib, I. H. (1991). Children of depressed mothers: A 10-month follow-up. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 100, 473–477.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lovejoy, C., Graczyk, P. A., O'Hare, E., & Neuman, G. (2000). Maternal depression and parenting behavior: A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 20, 561–592.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Monti, J. D., Rudolph, K. D., & Abaied, J. L. (2014). Contributions of maternal emotional functioning to socialization of coping. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 31, 247–269.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nolen-Hoeksema, S., & Girgus, J. S. (1994). The emergence of gender differences in depression during adolescence. Psychological Bulletin, 115, 424–443.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Orvaschel, H. (1995). Schedule of Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children—Epidemiologic version (5th ed.). Ft. Lauderdale, FL: Nova Southeastern University.Google Scholar
Pargas, R. C. M., Brennan, P. A., Hammen, C., & LaBrocque, R. (2010). Resilience to maternal depression in young adulthood. Developmental Psychology, 46, 805–814.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Porges, S. W. (2007). The polyvagal perspective. Biological Psychology, 74, 116–143.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raudenbush, S. W., & Bryk, A. S. (2002). Hierarchical linear models: Applications and data analysis methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Rhode, P., Lewinsohn, P. M., Klein, D. N., & Seeley, J. R. (2005). Association of parental depression with psychiatric course from adolescence to youth adulthood among formerly depressed individuals. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 114, 409–420.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rose, A. J., & Rudolph, K. D. (2006). A review of sex differences in peer relationship processes: Trade-offs for the emotional and behavioral development of girls and boys. Psychological Bulletin, 132, 98–131.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rudolph, K. D. (2002). Gender differences in emotional responses to interpersonal stress during adolescence. Journal of Adolescent Health, 30, 3–13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rudolph, K. D., & Flynn, M. (2007). Childhood adversity and youth depression: Influence of gender and pubertal status. Development and Psychopathology, 19, 497–521.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rudolph, K. D., Flynn, M., Abaied, J. L., Groot, A., & Thompson, R. (2009). Why is past depression the best predictor of future depression? Stress generation as a mechanism of depression continuity in girls. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 38, 473–485.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rudolph, K. D., & Hammen, C. (1999). Age and gender as determinants of stress exposure, generation, and reactivity in youngsters: A transactional perspective. Child Development, 70, 660–677.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rudolph, K. D., Hammen, C., Burge, D., Lindberg, N., Herzberg, D., & Daley, S. (2000). Toward an interpersonal life-stress model of depression: The developmental context of stress generation. Development and Psychopathology, 12, 215–234.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shanahan, L., Calkins, S. D., Keane, S. P., Kelleher, R., & Suffness, R. (2014). Trajectories of internalizing symptoms across childhood: The roles of biological self-regulation and maternal psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 26, 1353–1368.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shih, J. H., Eberhart, N. K., Hammen, C. L., & Brennan, P. A. (2006). Differential exposure and reactivity to interpersonal stress predict sex differences in adolescent depression. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 35, 103–115.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Silk, J. S., Shaw, D. S., Forbes, E. E., Lane, T. L., & Kovacs, M. (2006). Maternal depression and child internalizing: The moderating role of child emotion regulation. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 35, 116–126.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Silk, J. S., Shaw, D. S., Prout, J. T., O'Rourke, F., Lane, T. J., & Kovacs, M. (2011). Socialization of emotion and offspring internalizing symptoms in mothers with childhood-onset depression. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 32, 127–136.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Steinberg, L., & Silverberg, S. B. (1986). The vicissitudes of autonomy in early adolescence. Child Development, 57, 841–851.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Troop-Gordon, W., Rudolph, K. D., Sugimura, N., & Little, T. D. (2015). Peer victimization in middle childhood impedes adaptive responses to stress: A pathway to depressive symptoms. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 44, 432–445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Troop-Gordon, W., Sugimura, N., & Rudolph, K. D. (in press). Responses to interpersonal stress from childhood to early adolescence: Normative changes and the lasting impact of early peer victimization. Child Development.Google Scholar
Wadsworth, M. E., Raviv, T., Compas, B. E., & Connor-Smith, J. K. (2005). Parent and adolescent responses to poverty-related stress: Tests of mediated and moderated coping models. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 14, 283–298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, D., Clark, L. A., Weber, K., Assenheimer, J. S., Strauss, M. E., & McCormick, R. A. (1995). Testing a tripartite model: II. Exploring the symptom structure of anxiety and depression in student, adult, and patient samples. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 104, 15–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weissman, M. M., Gammon, G. D., John, K., Merikangas, K. R., Warner, B., Prusoff, B. A., & Sholomskas, D. (1987). Children of depressed parents: Increased psychopathology and early onset of major depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 44, 847–853.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wetter, E. K., & El-Sheikh, M. (2012). Trajectories of children's internalizing symptoms: The role of maternal internalizing symptoms, respiratory sinus arrhythmia and child sex. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 53, 168–177.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zeman, J., Cassano, M., Perry-Parrish, C., & Stegall, S. (2006). Emotion regulation in children and adolescents. Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 27, 155–168.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Supplementary material: File

Monti and Rudolph supplementary material

Supplementary Table

Download Monti and Rudolph supplementary material(File)
File 47.5 KB