Mother’s depression associated with increased risk of child’s antisocial behavior

Significantly higher levels of antisocial behavior were found in seven-year-old children whose mothers were depressed during the child’s first five years of life, according to an article in the February issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

“Children of depressed mothers have elevated conduct problems, presumably because maternal depression disrupts the caregiving environment,” according to background information in the article. Researchers have identified three possible explanations for the association between a mother’s depression and antisocial behavior (ASB) in their children: 1) depressed women are likely to have antisocial personality traits related to depression, 2) are likely to bear children with antisocial men, 3) and the children of depressed mothers may inherit a genetic predisposition for antisocial disorders.

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 8 Feb 2005
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.