Abstract
The mechanisms of the well-documented relationship between maternal depression and offspring psychopathology are not yet fully understood. Building upon cognitive theories of depression and the modeling hypothesis, path analyses tested whether maternal depression history predicted adolescent internalizing symptoms via the transmission of cognitive vulnerabilities within a sample of 635 adolescents (Mage = 13.1 years, range = 11.2–17.2 years; 53% female; 48% African American/Black) and their primary female caregivers. Maternal depression history did not directly predict adolescent symptoms. Two significant indirect effects were found; maternal depression history was associated with maternal negative cognitive style, which predicted greater adolescent negative generalization, which, in turn, predicted adolescents’ greater depressive and anxiety symptoms. These findings suggest that the transmission of cognitive vulnerabilities may link maternal depression and offspring internalizing psychopathology.
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Notes
The range of adolescent ages at Time 1 was 11.2–17.2 years. During the recruitment eligibility screen, a small proportion of participants misreported their date of birth and were enrolled into the study even though their true ages fell outside the eligible age range.
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E.E.D. generated hypotheses, created the database, ran and interpreted the analyses, and drafted the manuscript; B.A.M. helped generate hypotheses and provided feedback on the manuscript; L.Y.A. helped design and write the grant that funded the original study and provided feedback on the manuscript; L.B.A. helped design and write the grant that funded the original study, participated in the design and coordination of the current study, and provided feedback on the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Funding for this work was supported by National Institute of Mental Health grants MH079369 and MH101168 to L.B.A. and by National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program Grant No. 1650457 to E.E.D.
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Dunning, E.E., McArthur, B.A., Abramson, L.Y. et al. Linking Maternal Depression to Adolescent Internalizing Symptoms: Transmission of Cognitive Vulnerabilities. J Youth Adolescence 50, 324–335 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-020-01342-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-020-01342-7