She continues her work understanding teen and parent responses to a group cognitive - behavioral intervention program for
adolescents with a depressed parent who themselves have experienced depressive symptoms / disorder.
The poor emotional intelligence (EI) of
adults with depressed parents is likely attributable to one of two things: (1) infrequent caregiver interaction that stunts emotional development, or (2) withdrawal from peers, which is essential to this type of intelligence.
Depression interferes with parents» emotional availability and sensitivity to their children and also with their control and discipline of them (Cummings and Davies, 1994),
with depressed parents tending either to be very lenient with their children or very authoritarian, often switching between the two (Kochanska et al., 1997).
Two cross-sectional studies showed that adolescents
with a depressed parent suffered from psychosocial maladjustment [38] and experienced a significantly higher rate of affective disorder than adolescents of nonaffective psychiatric control parents [39].
Depressed adolescents
with depressed parents reported significantly higher suicidal ideation and had more recurrent depressive episodes than depressed adolescents with nondepressed parent (s).
Yet, the literature on adult depression, and on the relation between parental depression and parenting style, suggests that, within
families with depressed parents, sibling relationships may be strained.
Low and colleagues (2012) found that maternal mood / anxiety disorders are associated with diagnosed psychiatric disorders among offspring; young
adults with depressed parents are more likely to be diagnosed with depression and are likely to display severe depressive symptoms.
Per the World Health Organization (WHO),
children with depressed parents are more likely to experience social problems: «The most compelling evidence for the impact of attachment status on the child is with respect to peer relations.»
Another aim was to compare level of psychosocial impairment, use of mental health services, suicidal ideation and attempt, and the clinical features of depression (e.g., severity and age of onset) among depressed
adolescents with depressed parent (s) with those whose parent (s) do not have any depression.
Given that maladaptive family interactions characterize families
with depressed parents and are associated with poor sibling relationships, which are associated with poorer youth outcomes, it follows that sibling relationships in families with a depressed parent also may be impaired.
In a 2 - parent family,
with a depressed parent or parent with schizophrenia, a child usually leans on the healthier parent to survive.
Families
with depressed parents are not a homogeneous group, but differ in their resources and vulnerabilities.
School - age children and adolescents from families
with a depressed parent may benefit from a family - centered intervention, focusing on communication about the illness within the family and on the development of resiliency in the child.
For example, families
with a depressed parent are frequently characterized by a chain of events in which the parent, due to lethargy or preoccupation, is unable to maintain consistent child discipline and daily household routines for sleeping, eating, and self - care (Riley et al. 2008).
Similarly, research by Timko et al. (2009) indicates the relationship between depression and other impairments — such as physical dysfunction, pain, disability, and negative events — is stronger for adults
with depressed parents than non-depressed parents.