Maternal thoughts of self-harm and their association with future offspring mental health problems.
J Affect Disord
; 293: 422-428, 2021 10 01.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1293883
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
Depression and self-harm are leading causes of disability in young people, but prospective data on how maternal depression and self-harm thoughts contribute to these outcomes, and how they may interact is lacking.METHODS:
The study sample consisted of 8,425 mothers and offspring from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, an ongoing birth cohort study. Exposures were maternal self-harm ideation and depression measured using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, collected at eleven time points over the period 18 weeks' gestation to 18 years post-partum. Outcomes were offspring past-year major depressive disorder and lifetime self-harm assessed at age 24.RESULTS:
Nearly one-fifth (16.7%) of mothers reported thoughts of self-harm on at least one of the eleven assessment points. The frequency of maternal self-harm ideation was related to both outcomes in a dose-response manner. Young adults whose mothers had self-harm ideation on 5-11 occasions were over three times more likely (Odds ratio (OR), 3.32; 95% CI, 1.63-6.76) to be depressed and over 1.5 times as likely (OR, 1.55; 95% CI, 0.73, 3.29) to have self-harmed than their peers whose mothers had never reported self-harm thoughts. Maternal self-harm thoughts remained associated with both offspring outcomes independent of maternal depression, and no evidence was found for an interaction between the two exposures.DISCUSSION:
Clinicians collecting data on maternal depression may consider paying attention to questions about self-harm ideation in assessments. Examining accumulated maternal self-harm ideation over time may provide insights into which children are most at risk for later self-harm and depression.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Self-Injurious Behavior
/
Depressive Disorder, Major
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Child
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Young adult
Language:
English
Journal:
J Affect Disord
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
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