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Early life family disadvantages and major depression in adulthood

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Hartwin S. Sadowski ,
Blanca Ugarte ,
Israel Kolvin ,
Carole E. Kaplan  and
Jacqueline Barnes
Hartwin S. Sadowski
Affiliation:
Tavistock Clinic and Royal Free and University College Medical School, London
Blanca Ugarte
Affiliation:
Tavistock Clinic and Royal Free and University College Medical School, London
Israel Kolvin*
Affiliation:
Tavistock Clinic and Royal Free and University College Medical School, London
Carole E. Kaplan
Affiliation:
Fleming Nuffield Unit, Newcastle upon Tyne
Jacqueline Barnes
Affiliation:
Tavistock Clinic and Royal Free and University College Medical School, London
*
Professor I. Kolvin, The Tavistock Clinic, Child and Family Department, 120 Belsize Lane, London NW3 5BA
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Abstract

Background

There is evidence that exposure to social and family disadvantages in childhood are a risk factor for adult depression.

Aims

To explore the effects of multiple adversity in early childhood on adult depression, and the relative effects of the different adversities.

Method

This study utilises data from the Newcastle Thousand Family Study. Information on childhood disadvantages was collected when the participants were 5 years old, and information on mental health was gathered when they were 33 years old. Mental health data were scrutinised blind to the evidence of early disadvantage, and best-estimate diagnoses of major depressive disorder were made according to DSM–III–R criteria.

Results

Multiple family disadvantages in childhood substantially increase the risk of suffering a major depressive disorder in adulthood. Such disadvantages include family or marital relationship instability, a combination of poor mothering and poor physical care, and a combination of dependence on social welfare and overcrowding. For females major depression was linked in particular to the quality of parenting in early life.

Conclusions

Social and family (especially multiple family) disadvantages during childhood predispose individuals to an increased risk of major depression in adulthood.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 174 , Issue 2 , February 1999 , pp. 112 - 120
Copyright
Copyright © 1999 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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Footnotes

Declaration of interest I.K. supported 1954 by a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship.

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