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. 2019 Jul;90(4):1272-1285.
doi: 10.1111/cdev.13003. Epub 2017 Nov 24.

Exposure to Parental Depression in Adolescence and Risk for Metabolic Syndrome in Adulthood

Katherine B Ehrlich  1 , Edith Chen  2 , Tianyi Yu  1 , Gregory E Miller  2 , Gene H Brody  1
Affiliations

Exposure to Parental Depression in Adolescence and Risk for Metabolic Syndrome in Adulthood

Katherine B Ehrlich et al. Child Dev. 2019 Jul.

Abstract

The psychosocial consequences of living with a depressed parent have been well characterized. Less well known, however, is how this exposure is predictive of later physical health problems. The present study evaluated how parental depression across youths' adolescence (ages 11-18) was associated with youth metabolic syndrome at age 25 (n = 391). Youth self-regulation and health behaviors were considered as possible moderators of the link between parental depression and youth metabolic syndrome. Analyses revealed that parental depression in adolescence was associated with a composite score reflecting metabolic syndrome components in early adulthood. Furthermore, self-regulation and health behaviors moderated this link, such that links between parental depression and the metabolic syndrome existed only for youth with low self-regulation or unhealthy behaviors.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Young adults' metabolic syndrome composite at age 25 as a function of exposure to parental depression at ages 11 to 18 and youth self-regulation at age 25 (low = 1 SD below the mean; mid = mean; high = 1 SD above the mean). The lines represent the results of regression analyses at low, mid, and high levels of youth self-regulation, and the numbers in parentheses refer to the simple slopes.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Young adults' metabolic syndrome composite at age 25 as a function of exposure to parental depression at ages 11 to 18 and youth unhealthy behaviors at age 25. The lines represent the results of regression analyses at none unhealth behavior, one unhealthy behavior, and two unhealthy behaviors, and the numbers in parentheses refer to the simple slopes.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Young adults' metabolic syndrome composite at age 25 as a function of exposure to parental depression at ages 11-18 and youth self-regulation and unhealthy behaviors at age 25. The lines represent the results of regression analyses for different levels of self-regulation (low: 1 SD below the mean; high: 1 SD above the mean) and unhealthy behaviors (none vs. 2). Numbers in parentheses refer to simple slopes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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