Longitudinal Coupling of Depression in Parent–Adolescent Dyads: Within- and Between-Dyads Effects Over Time

Julianne M. Griffith, Jami F. Young, Benjamin L. Hankin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

In the present work, we evaluated reciprocal, within-dyads associations between parents’ and adolescents’ depressive symptoms across two independent samples (N = 327 and N = 435 dyads; approximately 85% biological mothers) assessed every 3 months for 2 years (Study 1) to 3 years (Study 2). Results of random intercept cross-lagged panel models converged to support positive contemporaneous patterns of cofluctuation in parental and adolescent depression such that within-persons deviations in parental depression were associated with same-direction within-persons deviations in adolescent depression at the same time point. In contrast, within-persons fluctuations in parental depression did not prospectively predict within-persons fluctuations in adolescent depression, or vice versa, across the follow-up period. Results held across boys and girls, as well as dyads with and without a parental history of depressive disorder. Overall, findings advance knowledge by demonstrating that after accounting for between-persons/dyads variance, parental and adolescent depression demonstrate contemporaneous cofluctuations but do not demonstrate within-dyads reciprocity over time.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1059-1079
Number of pages21
JournalClinical Psychological Science
Volume9
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2021

Keywords

  • adolescence
  • depression
  • intergenerational risk
  • preregistered
  • random intercept cross-lagged panel model

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Clinical Psychology

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