Biological rhythms disruption mediates the association between mother's diagnosis of bipolar disorder and offspring's emotional/behavioral problems

Abstract

Objective: The current study assesses whether the association between diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder (BD) in mothers and emotional and behavioral problems (EBP) in their offspring is mediated by a disruption in the offspring's biological rhythms.

Methods: A probabilistic sample of 492 public school children (ages 7-8, 48 % female) were assessed for biological rhythms disruption and EBP using the Biological Rhythms Interview for Assessment in Neuropsychiatry for Kids and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, respectively. Mothers' mental health (BD = 64) was evaluated using a standardized clinical interview. A mediation analysis was conducted to assess the effect of the mother's diagnosis of BD on the EBP of their offspring in relation to the offspring's biological rhythms disruptions.

Results: When compared to offspring of mothers without BD, offspring of mothers with BD showed greater difficulty in maintaining biological rhythms and higher prevalence of EBP. Using the presence of EBP as the outcome, 75 % of the effect of mother's BD diagnosis was mediated by offspring's biological rhythms disruption.

Conclusions: Biological rhythms disruption in children fully mediates the effect of the mother's diagnosis of BD on the child's EBP. These data encourage the development of further studies to find effective strategies to prevent and treat biological rhythms disruption in offspring of mothers with BD.

Keywords: Biological rhythms; Bipolar disorder; Developmental psychopathology; Offspring.