Children of parents with major affective disorders. A review of the past 5 years.
This article provides a review of most reported research on the children of parents with a major affective disorder over the past 5 years. Research between 1983 and 1988 has been characterized by methodologic improvements over earlier work including the use of direct interviews of children, standardized diagnostic criteria, and the employment of normal control groups. In general, results show that children of parents with a major affective disorder are at significant risk for depression and other disorders compared with normal controls. Future research is required to clarify the specific impact of having a parent with a major affective disorder compared with a parent with a different psychiatric disorder. Studies also need to focus on the impact of nonspecific variables such as family communication disorders, dysfunction in both parents, and also the effects of protective variables within individual children and the family. Longitudinal designs combining exploration of both genetic and psychosocial factors that extend into the years of highest risk are still needed to distinguish antecedents to adult illness from reactive disorders to living with a sick parent. Finally, current research findings that can be translated into clinical practice are enumerated.
LaRoche
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Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
D000293:Adolescent; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010553:Personality Development; D012307:Risk Factors; D012931:Social Environment