Chronic stress and stressful life events in the offspring of parents with bipolar disorder.
BACKGROUND
The stress generation theory suggests that depressed individuals and children of depressed mothers are prone to create stressors that are interpersonal and dependent on their own behaviour. Exposure to "self-generated" stress is believed to increase the risk for onset and recurrence of depression. Much less is known about stress in the offspring of parents with bipolar disorder (OBD).


METHODS
As part of a longitudinal study, 37 OBD and 33 offspring of parents with no affective disorder (13 to 26 years old) were interviewed using the UCLA Life Stress Interview, assessing their current life circumstances (chronic stress) and recent negative life events (episodic stress).


RESULTS
The OBD reported more difficulties in interpersonal and non-interpersonal domains of chronic stress than controls. The group differences remained significant after controlling for the presence of affective disorders, indicating that the effect of risk status on chronic stress is independent of the problems associated with having a disorder. With respect to episodic stress, the OBD were 3.9 times more likely to have experienced a moderate to severe interpersonal stressor compared to the control group. There was no group difference for dependent events, but the OBD experienced more severe independent events than controls.


CONCLUSIONS
Methodological limitations include a small sample size, large age range, and the absence of parent-reported stress and symptomatology.


CONCLUSIONS
Although the findings do not support the stress generation theory, they suggest that elevated levels of episodic and chronic stress may be important markers of risk for affective disorders in high-risk participants.
Ostiguy
Caroline S
CS
Centre for Research in Human Development, Concordia University, Montreal, Qc, Canada.
Ellenbogen
Mark A
MA
Linnen
Anne-Marie
AM
Walker
Elaine F
EF
Hammen
Constance
C
Hodgins
Sheilagh
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008016:Life Change Events; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012107:Research Design; D012307:Risk Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult