Parental depression links to child's adverse mental health: Research

WALES: The latest study published in PLOS ONE revealed that children who lived with a depressed parent were more likely to acquire depression and underperform academically.

According to Sinead Brophy, the lead author of the research, and colleagues, their research showed that depression in a parent was an intense risk factor for depression in a child and a variety of adverse child health and educational results, including lower academic accomplishment.

Researchers collected data from a national sample of young individuals ages 0 to 30 years old and their parents, who lived in Wales, United Kingdom. It comprised 1,080,118 mother-child entries and 369,426 stable male child entries.

Depression was diagnosed in 34.5 per cent of mother-child entries and 18.0 per cent of stable male kid entries, correspondingly. For mothers, 7.7 per cent had a diagnosis only before the child was born (and no depression during the child's lifetime), 20.9 per cent had a condition solely during the child's lifetime, and 5.9% had a diagnosis both before and during the child's lifetime. The results for fathers/stable males were 4.8%, 11.1 per cent, and 2.1 per cent, respectively.

According to researchers, parental depression was linked to depression and academic failure in youngsters as per their investigation. According to them, this was true for both mother and paternal depression. Analysis of the influence of growing up with a depressed parent on the influence of maternal depression reveals the relevance of the upbringing environment. The consequence of father depression on child educational failure was self-evident, demonstrating the need to help families where depression had been prevalent in either parent, with the impact of paternal depression requiring greater attention than had previously been provided. According to researchers, depression affects families rather than individuals.

The research "Timing of parental depression on risk of child depression and poor educational outcomes: A population based routine data cohort study from Born in Wales, UK" was published in PLOS ONE