Child Depression Fluctuations may trigger Parent Depression not vice versa: JAMA
A new study published in the Journal of American Medical Association showed that parent depression is influenced by changes in children’s depression symptoms, but not the other way around, highlighting the importance of family-focused mental health interventions.
Studies have repeatedly demonstrated a connection between depression in parents and children. It is often believed that the development, duration, and even worsening of child depression are preceded by parent depression. It is conceivable, though seldom verified, that parent depression is triggered by kid depression.
Designing and promoting family-centered approaches to pediatric treatment requires elucidating the direction and developmental timing of these connections. Hewitt and team used exploratory analyses in this study to see if family income and child sex affected the relationships between mother and child depression.
Children aged 10.3 (May 20 to July 15, 2020), 10.9 (March 4 to April 30, 2021), 11.6 (November 22, 2021 to January 17, 2022), and 12.8 (January 16 to July 7, 2024) years were included in this study's data from the All Our Families (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) cohort during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The main exposure was the report of depressed symptoms by both the mother and the child. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale-10 for mother depression and the Behavior Assessment System for Children for child depression.
A total of 1,801 mother-child pairs (52% males, 48% girls) were included in the sample. At study entrance, the mothers' mean (SD) age was 41.6 (4.4), and the majority had earned over CAD $100,000 per year (75%), been married or in a common-law relationship (71.4%), and finished postsecondary education (80%).
Throughout the course of the investigation, steady between-participant connections for mother depression and child depression were reflected in the consistent cross-sectional correlations that were found.
There was no correlation between within-participant increases in maternal depression scores at child ages 10.9 (standardized coefficient 0.12; 95% CI, 0.02-0.22) and 11.6 (0.17; 95% CI, 0.07-0.26) years and subsequent increases in child depression scores at ages 10.3 and 10.9 years.
Household income moderated these patterns of correlations (difference test for χ212 = 23.0; P =.03), and increases in child depression within the higher income group were consistently linked to increases in mother depression later on. Overall, contrary to popular belief, these results imply that rather than the other way around, the depression of the children may have exacerbated the depression of the mother over time.
Reference:
Hewitt, J. M. A., McArthur, B. A., Neville, R. D., Park, J. L., Tough, S., & Madigan, S. (2025). Testing bidirectional associations between maternal and child depression during emerging adolescence. JAMA Pediatrics. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2025.2822
