Abstract
BackgroundThis longitudinal study explored the relationship between trajectories of maternal depressive symptoms and offspring’s risk behavior in adolescence contributing to an extremely scarce literature about the impacts of maternal depression trajectories on offspring risk behaviors.MethodsWe included 3437 11-year-old adolescents from the 2004 Pelotas Birth Cohort Study. Trajectories of maternal depressive symptoms were constructed using Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EDPS) from age 3 months to 11 years. We identified five trajectories of maternal depressive symptoms: “low” “moderate low”, “increasing”, “decreasing”, and “chronic high”. The following adolescent outcomes were identified via self-report questionnaire and analyzed as binary outcome –yes/no: involvement in fights and alcohol use at age 11. We used logistic regression models to examine the effects of trajectories of maternal depressive symptoms on offspring’s risk behavior adjusting for potential confounding variable.ResultsAlcohol use and/or abuse as well as involvement in fights during adolescence, were not significantly associated with any specific trajectory of maternal depressive symptoms neither in the crude nor in the adjusted analyses.ConclusionAlcohol use and involvement in fights at age 11 were not associated with any specific trajectory of maternal depression.
Highlights
This longitudinal study explored the relationship between trajectories of maternal depressive symptoms and offspring’s risk behavior in adolescence contributing to an extremely scarce literature about the impacts of maternal depression trajectories on offspring risk behaviors
The aim of this study is to evaluate whether the course and severity of maternal depressive symptomatology impacts on risk behavior at age 11, considering potential confounders
We identified five trajectories of maternal depressive symptoms: “low” trajectory group is represented by a linear trajectory comprising women with Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS)< 10 across all time points
Summary
This longitudinal study explored the relationship between trajectories of maternal depressive symptoms and offspring’s risk behavior in adolescence contributing to an extremely scarce literature about the impacts of maternal depression trajectories on offspring risk behaviors. Adolescence is marked by complex biological and psychological transformations that potentially could lead to risky, health-compromising behaviors and cause physical and mental impairments. These behaviors include exposure to violence, sexual risk behavior and the use of. The literature describes three sets of early determinants that impact a child’s future behavior: prenatal exposures such as maternal depression, tobacco, alcohol, caffeine and others substances’ use during pregnancy; birth conditions such as prematurity and low birth weight; and adverse experiences during early life, such as maltreatment, neglect, family violence, adoption, and maternal or caregiver’s emotional problems - including maternal postpartum depression [6,7,8,9]. Studies evaluated ‘severity’ or ‘timing’, and the ‘course’ of maternal depression and its impact on offspring’s emotional and behavioral outcomes [11, 15, 16]
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