Adverse parenting and other childhood experience as risk factors for depression in women aged 18-44 years.
65 women who had experienced a recent major depressive disorder, and 81 women who had never been depressed, were recruited from a community probability sample. The two groups of women were compared with regard to a number of childhood experiences, including parenting style, which was assessed with the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI). When all the childhood factors were considered simultaneously in a logistic regression analysis, only low maternal care was significantly associated with recent depressive episodes. Low maternal care increased the risk of recent major depression approximately 4-fold and the estimate of the population attributable risk was 35%. These findings give further weight to the contention that adverse parenting in childhood, particularly a maternal parenting style typified by low care, is a significant risk factor for adult depression.
Oakley-Browne
M A
MA
Department of Psychological Medicine, Christchurch School of Medicine, New Zealand.
Joyce
P R
PR
Wells
J E
JE
Bushnell
J A
JA
Hornblow
A R
AR
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009769:Object Attachment; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D010552:Personality Assessment; D010553:Personality Development; D012307:Risk Factors