Religiosity and depression: ten-year follow-up of depressed mothers and offspring.
OBJECTIVE
This study examines maternal religiosity as a protective factor against depression in offspring.


METHODS
Sixty mothers and 151 offspring were independently assessed over the course of a 10-year follow-up. Maternal and offspring religiosity were assessed on the basis of self-report of the importance of religion, the frequency of attendance of religious services, and religious denomination. Depression was assessed using the Schedule for Affective Disorders-Lifetime version. Maternal bonding style was assessed through offspring report on the Parental Bonding Instrument. A series of logistic regressions were run to predict offspring depression status, taking into account maternal religiosity, offspring religiosity, and mother-offspring concordance of religiosity.


RESULTS
Maternal religiosity and mother-offspring concordance of religiosity were shown to be protective against offspring depression, independent of maternal parental bonding, maternal social functioning, and maternal demographics.


CONCLUSIONS
Maternal religiosity and offspring concordance with it may protect against depression in offspring.
Miller
L
L
Department of Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA. millerli@child.cpmc.columbia.edu
Warner
V
V
Wickramaratne
P
P
Weissman
M
M
D000328:Adult; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D012069:Religion and Psychology