Early life family disadvantages and major depression in adulthood

Abstract

Background: There is evidence that exposure to social and family disadvantages in childhood are a risk factor for adult depression.

Aims: To explore the effects of multiple adversity in early childhood on adult depression, and the relative effects of the different adversities.

Method: This study utilises data from the Newcastle Thousand Family Study. Information on childhood disadvantages was collected when the participants were 5 years old, and information on mental health was gathered when they were 33 years old. Mental health data were scrutinised blind to the evidence of early disadvantage, and best-estimate diagnoses of major depressive disorder were made according to DSM-III-R criteria.

Results: Multiple family disadvantages in childhood substantially increase the risk of suffering a major depressive disorder in adulthood. Such disadvantages include family or marital relationship instability, a combination of poor mothering and poor physical care, and a combination of dependence on social welfare and overcrowding. For females major depression was linked in particular to the quality of parenting in early life.

Conclusions: Social and family (especially multiple family) disadvantages during childhood predispose individuals to an increased risk of major depression in adulthood.