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Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 9/2009

01-09-2009 | ORIGINAL PAPER

The persistence of maternal distress and symptoms of distress in adult offspring

Author: Hayley A. Hamilton

Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology | Issue 9/2009

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Abstract

This study examined the influence of maternal psychological distress symptoms during offspring’s preschool, middle childhood, and adolescent years on the distress symptoms of offspring in adulthood. Data were derived from the British Cohort Study, a longitudinal study of children born in a one-week period in 1970. Results indicated that greater symptoms of maternal distress that persisted over multiple stages of offspring development were generally associated with greater symptoms of distress in adult offspring. The effect of greater maternal distress symptoms that persisted across preschool, middle childhood, and adolescence on adult offspring, however, was not significantly different from the long term effects of a single, but early, exposure to maternal distress once offspring’s psychosocial adjustment during adolescence was considered. The relationship between mother and offspring distress symptoms did not vary for male and female offspring. The results provide general support for a cumulative effect perspective in that continuous exposure to maternal distress symptoms had negative consequences in adulthood, and that the adult effect of exposure in early or middle childhood was explained by adolescent adjustment.
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Metadata
Title
The persistence of maternal distress and symptoms of distress in adult offspring
Author
Hayley A. Hamilton
Publication date
01-09-2009
Publisher
Steinkopff-Verlag
Published in
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology / Issue 9/2009
Print ISSN: 0933-7954
Electronic ISSN: 1433-9285
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-009-0497-3

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