William Atkins
Saturday, 18 October 2008 20:43
Science -
Health
Page 1 of 3
Depressed mothers, whether they have natural or adopted children, increase the risk of depression in their children, according to a U.S. study. It's not all in the genes.
American psychologist Erin Tully, of the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis), led the study that was written up in the
American Journal of Psychiatry.
The authors goal was to "
investigate environmental
influences on risk for psychopathology in adolescents with depressed
parents."
The AJP article by the Tully team is called "
An Adoption Study of
Parental Depression as an Environmental Liability for Adolescent
Depression and Childhood Disruptive Disorders." Its authors are Erin C.
Tully, William G. Iacono, and Matt McGue.
Whether Mom passes her genes on to her naturally born children or raises adopted children, the Tully-led research found first-time evidence that simply living with a depressed mother can pass those emotions “environmentally” on to her children.
Besides more likely passing on depression, depressed moms are also more likely to pass on other behavior problems to their children.
Tully and her colleagues studied 568 adopted adolescents from mostly Asian countries and 416 non-adopted adolescent children from Minnesota in the United States.
Page two continues the background from the study, and its results.
