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. 2012 Mar;42(3):509-19.
doi: 10.1017/S0033291711001516. Epub 2011 Aug 17.

Religiosity and resilience in persons at high risk for major depression

S Kasen  1 , P Wickramaratne, M J Gameroff, M M Weissman
Affiliations

Religiosity and resilience in persons at high risk for major depression

S Kasen et al. Psychol Med. 2012 Mar.

Abstract

Background: Few studies have examined religiosity as a protective factor using a longitudinal design to predict resilience in persons at high risk for major depressive disorder (MDD).

Method: High-risk offspring selected for having a depressed parent and control offspring of non-depressed parents were evaluated for psychiatric disorders in childhood/adolescence and at 10-year and 20-year follow-ups. Religious/spiritual importance, services attendance and negative life events (NLEs) were assessed at the 10-year follow-up. Models tested differences in relationships between religiosity/spirituality and subsequent disorders among offspring based on parent depression status, history of prior MDD and level of NLE exposure. Resilience was defined as lower odds for disorders with greater religiosity/spirituality in higher-risk versus lower-risk offspring.

Results: Increased attendance was associated with significantly reduced odds for mood disorder (by 43%) and any psychiatric disorder (by 53%) in all offspring; however, odds were significantly lower in offspring of non-depressed parents than in offspring of depressed parents. In analyses confined to offspring of depressed parents, those with high and those with average/low NLE exposure were compared: increased attendance was associated with significantly reduced odds for MDD, mood disorder and any psychiatric disorder (by 76, 69 and 64% respectively) and increased importance was associated with significantly reduced odds for mood disorder (by 74%) only in offspring of depressed parents with high NLE exposure. Moreover, those associations differed significantly between offspring of depressed parents with high NLE exposure and offspring of depressed parents with average/low NLE exposure.

Conclusions: Greater religiosity may contribute to development of resilience in certain high-risk individuals.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Interest

In the past two years Dr S. Kasen received funding from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and Dr M. M. Weissman received funding from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD), the Sackler Foundation, the Templeton Foundation, and the Interstitial Cystitis Association; he also receives royalties from Oxford University Press, Perseus Press, American Psychiatric Association Press, and MultiHealth Systems.

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