Mother-daughter study explores depression across generations
While it's widely known that depression in adults is both very common and treatable, recent data have suggested that depression in children and adolescents is much more prevalent than previously believed. Researchers from opposite sides of campus are now conducting a study to examine why the risk of anxiety and depression is so high among adolescents.
The project, focusing on mothers and their adolescent daughters, is a collaboration between Christopher Hayward, MD, associate professor of psychiatry, and Ian H. Gotlib, PhD, professor of psychology.
Previous research has shown that, at any given point in time, almost 10 percent of U.S. adolescents may be suffering from a clinically significant depression.
By late adolescence, almost one in four young adults has already experienced a clinically significant bout of depression. In addition, many adolescents may experience depressive symptoms that, although significant, fall just short of the clinical diagnostic threshold, Hayward noted. Recent research on anxiety tells much the same story, suggesting that alarming numbers of children and adolescents meet diagnostic criteria for an anxiety disorder.
High rates of emotional disorders in adolescents are especially worrisome, said Hayward, because early onset of a disorder may be associated with a more negative course and prognosis. Moreover, researchers have estimated that experiencing a depressive or anxiety disorder during adolescence may double or triple one's risk of developing a similar disorder during adulthood.
Offspring of parents with clinically significant depression or anxiety are especially prone to developing these disorders. But exactly how the disorders are transmitted across generations, and why they emerge around adolescence, remains a mystery.
The Stanford study of mothers and daughters is tackling these questions directly. The researchers are comparing two kinds of mother-daughter pairs: those in which the mother suffers from significant depression or anxiety, and those in which the mother is unaffected by these problems. Hayward and Gotlib hope to use the findings to evaluate current theories about how such disorders are transmitted across generations.
"What is particular exciting," Gotlib said, "is the large amount of information we will be able to collect on the cognitive, social and biological functioning of these children who are at risk for developing emotional disorders. We believe we will have in hand the information we need to integrate and assess the relative importance of these risk factors."
Knowing which factors may predict later emotional difficulties is critical in helping behavioral researchers develop early-intervention programs that can start to reverse the problematic trends in adolescent mental health, Gotlib said.
Mothers who have daughters between
the ages of 9 and 14 and who are interested in receiving more
information and/or becoming paid participants in the study may
contact the study coordinator by e-mail at moms@psych.stanford.edu or by phone at 723-6208.