Maternal depressive symptoms during childhood and risky adolescent health behaviors.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Maternal depression is a risk factor for adolescent depression; however, the effect of childhood exposure to maternal depression on adolescent engagement in health risk behaviors (eg, substance use, delinquency) is unclear.

Methods

We examined the relationship between maternal depressive symptoms (child's age 4-15) and engagement in health risk behaviors at age 16 to 17 by using data from 2910 mother-youth pairs in a nationally representative prospective Canadian cohort. Maternal depressive trajectories were estimated through finite mixture modeling, and multiple regression analyses examined the relationship between maternal depressive symptoms and engagement in various health risk behaviors (linear regression) and age of debut of various behaviors (Cox regression)

SUBMITTER: Wickham ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4533251 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature