FAMILY RISK-FACTORS, PARENTAL DEPRESSION, AND PSYCHOPATHOLOGY IN OFFSPRING

Associations between parents' poor marital adjustment, parent-child discord, affectionless control, low family cohesion, and parental divorce and DSM-III diagnoses were explored in a study of 220 offspring of parents with and without major depression. Family risk factors were more prevalent among offspring of depressed parents. Risk factors were associated with major depression and any diagnosis for children of nondepressed parents; they were associated with conduct disorder for both groups. Parental depression was more important than family risk factors in models predicting major depression, anxiety disorders, and any diagnosis. Both parental depression and family risk factors were significant predictors of conduct disorder. Implications for the etiology of psychopathology and for analytic strategies are discussed.