Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-31T16:01:00.688Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Child and Adult Depression: A Test of Continuities with Data from a Family Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

R. C. Harrington ,
H. Fudge ,
M. L. Rutter ,
D. Bredenkamp ,
C. Groothues  and
J. Pridham
R. C. Harrington*
Affiliation:
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Royal Manchester Childrens' Hospital, Pendleburg, Manchester M27 1HA
H. Fudge
Affiliation:
Child Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF
M. L. Rutter
Affiliation:
MRC Child Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF
D. Bredenkamp
Affiliation:
Child Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF
C. Groothues
Affiliation:
Child Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF
J. Pridham
Affiliation:
Child Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF
*
∗Correspondence
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The summaries of clinical data on children attending the Maudsley Hospital during the years 1968-72 were used to identify 80 children meeting operational criteria for depression, and 80 matched psychiatric control children. At follow-up, on average 18 years after the initial contact, information was obtained on the adult outcomes of 62 of the depressed children and 69 of the controls. At least one first-degree relative of 111 (85%) of these probands was interviewed; the great majority of interviews with relatives were conducted ‘blind’ to the proband's symptoms in both childhood and adulthood. The lifetime prevalence of RDC depression was significantly higher in the 128 interviewed relatives of the depressed children than in the 151 relatives of the controls. Higher rates of depression were found among the female relatives of both the depressed and control probands. These findings suggest that depression in young people resembles depression in adults in two key respects: it tends to run in families, and there are higher rates of depression among the female than among the male first-degree relatives.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 162 , Issue 5 , May 1993 , pp. 627 - 633
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1993 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association (1987) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn, revised) DSM-III-R. Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Anderson, J. C., Williams, S., McGee, R., et al (1987) DSM-III disorders in preadolescent children: prevalence in a large sample from the general population. Archives of General Psychiatry, 44, 69–76.Google Scholar
Angold, A. (1988) Childhood and adolescent depression. I. Epidemiological and aetiological aspects. British Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 601–617.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carlson, G. A. & Kashani, J. H. (1988) Phenomenology of major depression from childhood through adulthood: analysis of three studies. American Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 1222–1225.Google ScholarPubMed
Dwyer, J. T. & Delong, G. R. (1987) A family history study of twenty probands with childhood manic-depressive illness. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 26, 176–180.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Earls, F. (1987) On the familial transmission of child psychiatric disorder. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 28, 791–802.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fleming, J., Offord, D. R. & Boyle, M. H. (1989) Prevalence of childhood and adolescent depression in the community: Ontario child health study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 155, 647–654.Google ScholarPubMed
Fleming, J., Offord, D. R. & Boyle, M. H. (1990) Epidemiology of childhood depressive disorders: a critical review. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 29, 571–580.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gershon, E. S., Hamovit, J., Guroff, J. J., et al (1982) A family study of schizoaffective, bipolar I, bipolar II, unipolar, and normal control probands. Archives of General Psychiatry, 39, 1157–1167.Google Scholar
Goodman, R. & Simonoff, E. (1991) Reliability of clinical ratings by trainee child psychiatrists: a research note. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 32, 551–555.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Graham, P. J. (1981) Depressive disorders in children - a reconsideration. Acta Paedopsychiatrica, 46, 285–296.Google ScholarPubMed
Harrington, R. C. (1989) Child and adult depression: concepts and continuities. Israeli Journal of Psychiatry and Related Sciences, 26, 12–29.Google ScholarPubMed
Harrington, R. C. (1990) Depressive disorder in children and adolescents. British Journal of Hospital Medicine, 43, 108–112.Google Scholar
Harrington, R. C. (1991a) Affective disorders. In Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Modem Approaches (3rd edn) (eds Rutter, M., Hersov, L. & Taylor, E.). London: Blackwell (in press).Google Scholar
Harrington, R. C. (1991b) Do we need different criteria to diagnose depression in children? In Abstracts of the Ninth European Congress of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. London: Royal College of Psychiatrists.Google Scholar
Harrington, R. C., Hill, J., Rutter, M., et al (1988) The assessment of lifetime psychopathology: a comparison of two interviewing styles. Psychological Medicine, 18, 487–493.Google Scholar
Harrington, R. C., Hill, J., Rutter, M., Fudge, H., Rutter, M., et al (1990) Adult outcomes of childhood and adolescent depression: I. Psychiatric status. Archives of General Psychiatry, 47, 465–473.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harrington, R. C., Hill, J., Rutter, M., Fudge, H., Rutter, M., et al (1991) Adult outcomes of childhood and adolescent depression: II. Risk for antisocial disorders. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 30, 434–439.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kandel, D. B. & Davies, M. (1986) Adult sequelae of adolescent depressive symptoms. Archives of General Psychiatry, 43, 255–262.Google Scholar
Kashani, J. H., Beck, N. C., Hoeper, E. W., et al (1987) Psychiatric disorders in a community sample of adolescents. American Journal of Psychiatry, 144, 584–589.Google Scholar
Klerman, G. L. (1988) The current age of youthful melancholia: evidence for increase in depression among adolescents and young adults. British Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 4–14.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kolvin, I., Barrett, M. L., Bhate, S. R., et al (1991) The Newcastle Child Depression Project: diagnosis and classification of depression. British Journal of Psychiatry, 159 (suppl. 11), 9–21.Google Scholar
Kovacs, M. (1986) A developmental perspective on methods and measures in the assessment of depressive disorders: the clinical interview. In Depression in Young People: Developmental and Clinical Perspectives (eds Rutter, M., Izard, C. E. & Read, P. B.), pp. 435–468. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Kutcher, S. & Marton, P. (1991) Affective disorders in first degree relatives of adolescent onset bipolars, unipolars, and normal controls. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 30, 75–78.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Livingston, R., Nugent, H., Rader, L., et al (1985) Family histories of depressed and severely anxious children. American Journal of Psychiatry, 142, 1497–1499.Google Scholar
Mazure, C. & Gershon, E. S. (1979) Blindness and reliability in lifetime psychiatric diagnosis. Archives of General Psychiatry, 36, 521–525.Google Scholar
McGee, R., Feehan, M., Williams, S., et al (1990) DSM-III disorders in a large sample of adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 29, 611–619.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGuffin, P., Katz, R., Aldrich, J., et al (1988) The Camberwell Collaborative Depression Study - II. Investigation of family members. British Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 766–774.Google Scholar
Mendlewicz, J. & Baron, M. (1981) Morbidity risks in subtypes of unipolar depressive illness: differences between early and late onset forms. British Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 463–466.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mitchell, J., McCauley, E., Burke, P. M., et al (1988) Phenomenology of depression in children and adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 27, 12–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mitchell, J., McCauley, E., Burke, P. M., et al (1989) Psychopathology in parents of depressed children and adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 28, 352–357.Google Scholar
Pearce, J. B. (1974) Childhood Depression. MPhil thesis, University of London.Google Scholar
Pearce, J. B. (1978) The recognition of depressive disorder in children. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 71, 494–500.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Puig-Antich, J., Goetz, D., Davies, M., et al (1989) A controlled family history study of prepubertal major depressive disorder. Archives of General Psychiatry, 46, 406–418.Google Scholar
Rice, J., Reich, T., Andreasen, N. C., et al (1984) Sex-related differences in depression: familial evidence. Journal of Affective Disorders, 71, 199–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robins, E. & Guze, S. B. (1970) Establishment of diagnostic validity in psychiatric illness: its application to schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 126, 107–111.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1986) Depressive feelings, cognitions, and disorders: a research postscript. In Depression in Young People: Developmental and Clinical Perspectives (eds Rutter, M., Izard, C. E. & Read, P. B.), pp. 491–519. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Rutter, M., Bolton, P., Harrington, R. C., et al (1990a) Genetic factors in child psychiatric disorders - I. A review of research strategies. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 31, 3–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutter, M., Bolton, P., Harrington, R. C., Macdonald, H., Le Couteur, A., et al (1990b) Genetic factors in child psychiatric disorders - II. Empirical findings. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 31, 39–83.Google Scholar
Ryan, N. D., Puig-Antich, J., Ambrosini, P., et al (1987) The clinical picture of major depression in children and adolescents. Archives of General Psychiatry, 44, 854–861.Google Scholar
Spitzer, R. L. & Endicott, J. (1975) Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia - Lifetime Version. New York: Biometrics Research.Google Scholar
Spitzer, R. L. & Endicott, J., & Robins, E. (1978) Research Diagnostic Criteria: rationale and reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry, 35, 773–782.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Strober, M., Morrell, W., Burroughs, J., et al (1988) A family study of bipolar I disorder in adolescence: early onset of symptoms linked to increased familial loading and lithium resistance. Journal of Affective Disorders, 15, 255–268.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thorley, G. (1982) The Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals' clinical data register for children and adolescents. Journal of Adolescence, 5, 179–189.Google Scholar
Thorley, G. (1987) Factor study of a psychiatric child rating scale: based on ratings made by clinicians on child and adolescent clinic attenders. British Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 49–59.Google Scholar
Weissman, M. M. & Klerman, G. L. (1977) Sex differences and the epidemiology of depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 34, 98–111.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weissman, M. M. & Klerman, G. L., Wickramaratne, P., Merikangas, K. R., et al (1984a) Onset of major depression in early adulthood: increased familial loading and specificity. Archives of General Psychiatry, 41, 1136–1143.Google Scholar
Weissman, M. M. & Klerman, G. L., Wickramaratne, P., Merikangas, K. R., Gershon, E. S., Kidd, K. K., et al (1984b) Psychiatric disorders in the relatives of probands with affective disorders: the Yale University-National Institute of Mental Health collaborative study. Archives of General Psychiatry, 41, 13–21.Google Scholar
Weissman, M. M. & Klerman, G. L., Wickramaratne, P., Merikangas, K. R., Gershon, E. S., Kidd, K. K., Gammon, D., John, K., et al (1987) Children of depressed parents: increased psychopathology and early onset of major depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 44, 847–853.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zeitlin, H. (1986) The Natural History of Psychiatric Disorder in Children. Maudsley Monograph 29. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.