Maternal psychopathology - a risk factor for affective, anxiety and substance use disorders in offspring? Results from a prospective-longitudinal community study

In a variety of studies it has been demonstrated that affective, anxiety and substance use disorders aggregate in families. These results often get interpreted as parental disorders being a risk factor for psychopathology in offspring. However, rarely has it been demonstrated that the parental disorder precedes that of the child, an attribute necessary for the definition of a risk factor (Kraemer et al 1997). The aim of the present study is to examine whether maternal psychopathology precedes the onset of psychopathology in offspring. Analyses are based on a cohort of 933 mother-child pairs from the EDSP study. Offspring were 14-17-years of age at baseline and were followed-up over a five years period. Diagnostic information on affective, anxiety and substance use disorders of mothers and children was based on the M-CIDI/DSM-IV. In prospective analyses it could be demonstrated that maternal anxiety disorders are associated with elevated incidence rates of affective disorders in offspring during follow-up (18.9% vs. 12.1%; OR=1.7,95% CI=1.1-2.7) and maternal substance use disorders with incident offspring anxiety (21.7% vs. 13.2%; OR=1.8,95% CI=1.1-3.1) as well as substance use disorders (36.5% vs. 28.2%; OR=1.6,95% CI=1.1-2.5). These results are important with regard to the prevention of psychopathology in children suggesting that maternal anxiety can be considered a risk factor for affective disorders and maternal substance use for anxiety and substance use disorders in offspring.