Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jul 13:38:101000.
doi: 10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.101000. eCollection 2021 Aug.

Enduring problems in the offspring of depressed parents followed up to 38 years

Myrna M Weissman  1   2   3 , Ardesheer Talati  1   2 , Marc J Gameroff  1   2 , Lifang Pan  1 , Jamie Skipper  1 , Jonathan E Posner  1   4 , Priya J Wickramaratne  1   2
Affiliations

Enduring problems in the offspring of depressed parents followed up to 38 years

Myrna M Weissman et al. EClinicalMedicine. .

Abstract

Background: while the increased risk of major depressive disorder (MDD) in offspring of depressed parents is one of the best-replicated findings in psychiatry, their long-term outcomes are less well known. The clinical outcomes of biological offspring of depressed (high-risk) and not depressed (low-risk) parents who have been directly interviewed over the years are presented.

Methods: a longitudinal retrospective cohort study began in 1982, and 276 biological offspring of moderately-to-severely depressed or non-depressed parents from the same community were followed up to 38 years. Rates of psychiatric disorders for offspring were collected by clinically trained interviewers. Final diagnoses were made by M.D. or Ph.D. clinicians. Mortality and cause of death were obtained from relatives and registries.

Findings: high- compared to low-risk offspring continue to have about a three-fold increased risk of MDD, increased rates of anxiety disorder, substance dependence, and poorer functioning over the life course. Adolescence and early adulthood remain prime age of first onsets. Within high-risk group only, the death rate due to unnatural causes, suicides and overdose was 4·97/100 in the offspring and 5·36/100 in their parents. This subsample of White, lower-educated, often unemployed persons, who died by unnatural causes are similar demographically to those described as having a recent increase in 'deaths of despair'.

Interpretation: family history of MDD continues to be a powerful predictor of clinical course and mortality and should be probed in clinical visits, especially in youth when depression usually first appears.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare that the paper was funded by an NIMH grant. Authors AT, MJG, LP, JS, and PJW declare no competing interests. JP- Reports research support from Takeda (formerly Shire) and Aevi Genomics, outside the submitted work, as well as consulting fees from Innovative Science. MMW- Reports research grants in the last three years from NIMH, Brain and Behavior Foundation, Templeton Foundation and Yale. Book royalties from the Perseus Press, Oxford Press, and APA Publishing. MMW's salary is paid by NY State and endowed chair from Columbia University. MMW has also received royalties on the social adjustment scale from Multihealth Systems but receives no royalties from this study or any of her studies that includes this scale. Honorarium for giving grand rounds at Mass General Hospital and Hospital in White Plains. Travel expenses to give lectures by the World Psychiatric Association, Mass General Hospital and University of California-San Diego. MMW serves on scientific advisory boards (uncompensated) of Brain and Behavior, DBSA, and American Foundation for Suicide Prevention None of these represent a conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig. 1
Age-Specific Rates of Onset of Psychiatric disorder Over 38 Years in Offspring (N = 276) of Depressed and Nondepressed Parents.
Fig 2
Fig. 2
Cumulative Rates of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) in Female and Male Offspring (N = 276) of Depressed and Nondepressed Parents.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Lefkowitz M.M., Burton N. Childhood depression: a critique of the concept. Psychol Bull. 1978;85(4):716–726. - PubMed
    1. Weissman M.M. Big data begin in psychiatry. JAMA Psychiatry. 2020;77(9):967–973. - PubMed
    1. Weissman M.M. The myth of involutional melancholia. JAMA. 1979;242(8):742–744. - PubMed
    1. Kendler K.S., Ohlsson H., Sundquist J., Sundquist K. An extended Swedish national adoption study of bipolar disorder illness and cross-generational familial association with schizophrenia and major depression. JAMA Psychiatry. 2020;77(8):814–822. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Klein D.N., Lewinsohn P.M., Seeley J.R., Rohde P. A family study of major depressive disorder in a community sample of adolescents. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2001;58(1):13–20. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources