Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Home
  • Home
Article
  • Cited by 69

  • Access

Antenatal depression and offspring psychopathology: the influence of childhood maltreatment

  • Susan Pawlby (a1), Dale Hay (a2), Deborah Sharp (a3), Cerith S. Waters (a2) and Carmine M. Pariante (a4)...

Abstract

Background

Antenatal depression and childhood maltreatment have each been associated with offspring psychopathology, but have never been examined in the same sample.

Aims

To determine whether childhood maltreatment influences the association between antenatal depression and offspring psychopathology.

Method

Prospectively collected data on antenatal depression, offspring maltreatment (age 11) and offspring psychopathology (age 11 and 16) were analysed in 120 mother–offspring dyads from the community-based South London Child Development Study.

Results

Antenatal depression increased the risk of maltreatment in the offspring by almost four times. Children exposed only to antenatal depression or only to childhood maltreatment were no more at risk of developing psychopathology; however, children exposed to both antenatal depression and childhood maltreatment were at almost 12 times greater risk of developing psychopathology than offspring not so exposed.

Conclusions

Research investigating exposure to adverse events in utero and offspring psychopathology should take account of postnatal adverse events such as maltreatment.

  • View HTML

      • Send article to Kindle

      To send this article to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about sending to your Kindle. Find out more about sending to your Kindle.

      Note you can select to send to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be sent to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

      Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

      Antenatal depression and offspring psychopathology: the influence of childhood maltreatment
      Available formats
      ×

      Send article to Dropbox

      To send this article to your Dropbox account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your <service> account. Find out more about sending content to Dropbox.

      Antenatal depression and offspring psychopathology: the influence of childhood maltreatment
      Available formats
      ×

      Send article to Google Drive

      To send this article to your Google Drive account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your <service> account. Find out more about sending content to Google Drive.

      Antenatal depression and offspring psychopathology: the influence of childhood maltreatment
      Available formats
      ×

Copyright

COPYRIGHT: © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2011 

Corresponding author

Dr Susan Pawlby, Section of Perinatal Psychiatry, PO Box 71, Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK. Email: susan.pawlby@kcl.ac.uk

Footnotes

Hide All

The study was supported by the Medical Research Council UK, project grant numbers G89292999N and G9539876N awarded to the late Professor Channi Kumar, D.S. and D.H., the Psychiatry Research Trust, and the South West GP Trust. C.M.P. is funded by the Specialist NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health, Institute of Psychiatry and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.

Declaration of interest

None.

Footnotes

References

Hide All
1 Thapar, A, Rutter, M. Do prenatal risk factors cause psychiatric disorder? Be wary of causal claims. Br J Psychiatry 2009; 195: 100–1.
2 Pawlby, S, Hay, DF, Sharp, D, Waters, CS, O'Keane, V. Antenatal depression predicts depression in adolescent offspring: prospective longitudinal community based study. J Affect Disord 2009; 113: 236–43.
3 Hay, DF, Pawlby, S, Waters, CS, Perra, O, Sharp, D. Mothers' antenatal depression and their children's antisocial outcomes. Child Dev 2010; 81: 149–65.
4 O'Connor, TG, Heron, J, Golding, J, Beveridge, M, Glover, V. Maternal antenatal anxiety and children's behavioural/emotional problems at 4 years. Report from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Br J Psychiatry 2002; 180: 502–8.
5 Oates, MR. Adverse effects of maternal antenatal anxiety on children: causal effect or developmental continuum? Br J Psychiatry 2002; 180: 478–9.
6 Bifulco, A, Moran, PM, Baines, R, Bunn, A, Stanford, K. Exploring psychological abuse in childhood: II. Association with other abuse and adult clinical depression. Bull Menninger Clin 2002; 66: 241–58.
7 Cicchetti, D, Toth, S. A developmental psychopathology perspective on child abuse and neglect. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 1995; 34: 541–65.
8 Widom, SP, DuMont, K, Czaia, SJ. A prospective investigation of major depressive disorder and comorbidity in abused and neglected children grown up. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2007; 64: 49–56.
9 Danese, A, Moffitt, TE, Pariante, CM, Ambler, A, Poulton, R, Caspi, A. Elevated inflammation levels in depressed adults with a history of childhood maltreatment. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2008; 65: 409–15.
10 Zhou, Y, Hallisey, EJ, Freymann, GR. Identifying perinatal risk factors for infant maltreatment: an ecological approach. Int J Health Geographics 2006; 5: 53–64.
11 Sharp, DJ, Hay, DF, Pawlby, SJ, Schmücker, G, Allen, H, Kumar, R. The impact of postnatal depression on boys' intellectual development. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 1995; 36: 1315–36.
12 Goldberg, D, Cooper, B, Eastwood, MT, Kedward, HB, Shepherd, M. A standardised psychiatric interview for use in community surveys. Br J Prev Soc Med 1970; 24: 18–23.
13 Spitzer, RL, Endicott, J, Robbins, E. The Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia – Lifetime version (SADS-L) 3rd Edn. Biometric Research, 1978.
14 Angold, A, Prendergast, M, Cox, A, Harrington, R, Simonoff, E, Rutter, M. The Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment (CAPA). Psychol Med 1995; 25: 739–53.
15 Angold, A, Erkanli, A, Costello, EJ, Rutter, M. Precision, reliability and accuracy in the dating of symptom onsets in child and adolescent psychopathology. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 1996; 37: 657–64.
16 Angold, A, Costello, EJ. The Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment (CAPA). J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2000; 39: 39–48.
17 Goodman, R, Meltzer, H, Bailey, V. The strengths and difficulties questionnaire: A pilot study on the validity of the self-report version. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 1998; 7: 125–30.
18 Hay, DF, Pawlby, S, Waters, CS, Sharp, D. Antepartum and postpartum exposure to maternal depression: Different effects on different adolescent outcomes. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2008; 49: 1079–88.
19 National Research Council, Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Understanding Child Abuse and Neglect. National Academy Press, 1993.
20 Kaplan, SJ, Sunday, SR, Labruna, V, Pelcovitz, D, Salzinger, S. Psychiatric disorders of parents of physically abused adolescents. Fam Viol 2009; 24: 273–81.
21 Oliver, JE. Successive generations of child maltreatment: social and medical disorders in the parents. Br J Psychiatry 1985; 147: 484–90.
22 Misri, S, Kendrick, K. Perinatal depression, fetal bonding, and mother-child attachment: a review of the literature. Curr Pediatr Rev 2008; 4: 66–70.
23 Pariante, CM, Seneviratne, G, Howard, L. Should we stop using tricyclic antidepressants in pregnancy? Psychol Med 2011; 41: 15–7.
24 Field, F. The Foundation Years: Preventing Poor Children Becoming Poor Adults. The Report of the Independent Review on Poverty and Life Chances. HM Government, 2010 (http://www.frankfield.co.uk/review-on-poverty-and-life-chances/).
25 Champagne, FA, Meaney, MJ. Stress during gestation alters postpartum maternal care and the development of the offspring in a rodent model. Biol Psychiatry 2006; 59: 1227–35.
26 O'Keane, V, Lightman, S, Marsh, M, Pawlby, S, Papadopoulos, AS, Taylor, A, et al. Increased pituitary-adrenal activation and shortened gestation in a sample of depressed pregnant women: a pilot study. J Affect Disord 2010; 130: 300–5.
27 Feldman, R, Weller, A, Zagoory-Sharon, O, Levine, A. Evidence for a neuroendocrinological foundation of human affiliation: plasma oxytocin levels across pregnancy and the postpartum period predict mother-infant bonding. Psychol Sci 2007; 18: 965–70.
28 Pariante, CM, Lightman, SL. The HPA axis in major depression: classical theories and new developments. Trends Neurosci 2008; 31: 464–8.
29 Kashani, J, Shekim, W, Burk, J, Beck, N. Abuse as a predictor of psychopathology in children and adolescents. J Clin Child Psychol 1987; 16: 43–50.
30 Famularo, RMD, Kinscherff, R, Fenton, T. Psychiatric diagnoses of maltreated children: Preliminary findings. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 1992; 31: 863–7.
31 Danese, A, Caspi, A, Williams, B, Ambler, A, Sugden, K, Mika, J, et al. Biological embedding of stress through inflammation processes in childhood. Mol Psychiatry 2011; 16: 244–6.
32 Shin, SH, Hong, HG, Hazen, AL. Childhood sexual abuse and adolescent substance use: a latent class analysis. Drug Alcohol Depend 2010; 109: 226–35.
33 Fergusson, DM, Horwood, LJ, Lynskey, MT. Childhood sexual abuse, adolescent sexual behaviors and sexual revictimization. Child Abuse Negl 1997; 21: 789–803.
34 Kaufman, J, Birmaher, B, Brent, D, Dahl, R, Bridge, J, Ryan, ND. Psychopathology in the relatives of depressed-abused children. Child Abuse Negl 1998; 22: 171–81.
35 De Bellis, MD, Broussard, ER, Herring, DJ, Wexler, S, Moritz, G, Benitez, JG. Psychiatric co-morbidity in caregivers and children involved in maltreatment: a pilot research study with policy implications. Child Abuse Negl 2001; 25: 923–44.
36 Chambers, C. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and congenital malformations. BMJ 2009; 339: b3525.
37 Heim, C, Newport, DJ, Mletzko, T, Miller, AH, Nemeroff, CB. The link between childhood trauma and depression: insights from HPA axis studies in humans. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2008; 33: 693–710.
38 Danese, A, Pariante, CM, Caspi, A, Taylor, A, Poulton, R. Childhood maltreatment predicts adult inflammation in life-course study. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2007; 104: 1319–24.
39 Hart, J, Gunnar, M, Cicchetti, D. Salivary cortisol in maltreated children: evidence of relations between neuroendocrine activity and social competence. Dev Psychopathol 1995; 7: 11–26.
40 Glover, V, O'Connor, TG, O'Donnell, K. Prenatal stress and the programming of the HPA axis. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2010; 35: 17–22.
41 Goldthorpe, JH, Hope, K. The Social Grading of Occupations: A New Approach and Scale. Oxford University Press, 1974.

Related content

Powered by UNSILO
Type Description Title
PDF
Supplementary materials

Pawlby et al. supplementary material
Supplementary Material

 PDF (55 KB)
55 KB
  • Cited by 69

  • Access

Antenatal depression and offspring psychopathology: the influence of childhood maltreatment

  • Susan Pawlby (a1), Dale Hay (a2), Deborah Sharp (a3), Cerith S. Waters (a2) and Carmine M. Pariante (a4)...

Metrics

Altmetric attention score

Full text views

Total number of HTML views: 0
Total number of PDF views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

Abstract views

Total abstract views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

* Views captured on Cambridge Core between <date>. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

Usage data cannot currently be displayed.

  • Cited by 69

  • Access

Antenatal depression and offspring psychopathology: the influence of childhood maltreatment

  • Susan Pawlby (a1), Dale Hay (a2), Deborah Sharp (a3), Cerith S. Waters (a2) and Carmine M. Pariante (a4)...
Submit a response

eLetters

Antenatal depression & offspring psychopathology

Manjeet S. Bhatia
21 October 2011

The article by Susan Pawlby et al is an excellent one and gives new insight into many aspects of antenatal depression and offspring psychopathology. It is a prospective study and longitudinally covers many areas of antenatal depression, childhood maltreatment and subsequent psychopathology.There are. however some limitations. Firstly, there must have been a longitudinal control of subjects having depression but not associated with pregnancy and also a group of pregnant subjects without depression and then effects on childhood psychopathology, and also a control group of children facing antenatal depression but having no psychopathology. Secondly, maternal depression was first assessed at36 weeks of pregnancy and not earlier (because there may be change in severity of depression in every trimester)and then assessment was done at 3 months after delivery (as many cases of antenatal depression and postpartum depression may subside in this period)and then at 12 months postpartum ( which is longer than average duration of postpartum depression).Thirdly, children's experience of maltreatment was taken in preceding 3 months prior to interview at 11 years only. Fourthly, the reason of assessment of maternal history of childhood physical and/or sexual abuse 4 years after birth of offspring not mentioned. Fifthly, the details of rating scale for emotional security would have been more informative. Sixthly, many variables e.g. biological parent versus step parent, only parent/parent living without spouse, inclusion of both parents in study, antenatal depression as a mediator or moderator,effects of antenatal depression on different sibling order, factors associated with continuation of antenatal depression in postpartum period would have been more informative. This study however stresses many important points regarding treatment of depression in antenatal period and need of future studies about continuity of antenatal, perinatal and postnatal depression and its impact on offspring psychopathology. ... More

Conflict of interest: None declared

Write a reply

Back to top

×

Reply to: Submit a response

Your details

Conflicting interests

Do you have any conflicting interests? *