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Parental death in childhood and risk of adult depressive disorders: a review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Christopher Tennant ,
Paul Bebbington  and
Jane Hurry
Christopher Tennant*
Affiliation:
MRC Social Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, London
Paul Bebbington
Affiliation:
MRC Social Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, London
Jane Hurry
Affiliation:
MRC Social Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, London
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Christopher Tennant, MRC Social Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF.
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Synopsis

The authors review the evidence that parental death in childhood predisposes to depressive disorders in later life. The findings in general are quite inconsistent; this is due in part to the methodological limitations of most studies, principally that of inadequate control of potentially confounding variables. Where experimental and control samples were most rigorously matched, no association was found between childhood parental bereavement and depression in later life. Parental death in childhood appears to have little effect on adult depressive morbidity.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , May 1980 , pp. 289 - 299
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

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