Disentangling the effects of maternal depressive symptoms to child internalizing and externalizing problems – an extended children of twins study

Maternal depression has been found to be associated with internalizing and externalizing problems in preschool children. As both maternal depression and child internalizing and externalizing problems are influenced by genetic... [ view full abstract ]

Maternal depression has been found to be associated with internalizing and externalizing problems in preschool children. As both maternal depression and child internalizing and externalizing problems are influenced by genetic factors, it is likely that genes play a role in explaining intergenerational associations. Previous studies on parents and adolescent offspring typically find that genetic transmission is not important for explaining transmission of risk, indicating that mechanisms of causality may be operating. The extent to which associations between mothers and preschool children can be explained by genetic transmission has not yet been investigated in an extended children of twins study.

The present study is based on data from a twin-family subsample of the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study. Using structural equation models, we aim to investigate to what extent the effect of maternal depressive symptoms is transferred to the offspring through a genetic or direct environmental pathway. Maternal depressive symptoms and child internalizing and externalizing problems were measured when the children were 18, 36 and 60 months old.

For optimal prevention of child mental health problems, it is important to understand whether the mechanisms of transmission are the same across time and for internalizing and externalizing problems. Preliminary results will be presented at the conference.