Subcortical volumes in offspring with a multigenerational family history of depression - A study across two cohorts.

Background: Having multiple previous generations with depression in the family increases offspring risk for psychopathology. Parental depression has been associated with smaller subcortical brain volumes in their children, but whether two prior generations with depression is associated with further decreases is unclear.

Methods: Using two independent cohorts, 1) a Three-Generation Study (TGS, N = 65) with direct clinical interviews of adults and children across all three generations, and 2) the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (ABCD, N = 10,626) of 9-10 year-old children with family history assessed by a caregiver, we tested whether having more generations of depression in the family was associated with smaller subcortical volumes (using structural MRI).

Depression and cognition are associated with lipid dysregulation in both a multigenerational study of depression and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Chronic dysregulation of peripheral lipids has been found to be associated with depression and cognition, but their interaction has not been investigated. Growing evidence has highlighted the association between peripheral lipoprotein levels with depression and cognition with inconsistent results. We assessed the association between peripheral lipids, depression, and cognition while evaluating their potential interactions using robust clinically relevant predictors such as lipoprotein levels and chronic medical disorders that dysregulate lipoproteins.

Feedback negativity and feedback-related P3 in individuals at risk for depression: Comparing surface potentials and current source densities.

Blunted responses to reward feedback have been linked to major depressive disorder (MDD) and depression risk. Using a monetary incentive delay task (win, loss, break-even), we investigated the impact of family risk for depression and lifetime history of MDD and anxiety disorder with 72-channel electroencephalograms (EEG) recorded from 29 high-risk and 32 low-risk individuals (15-58 years, 30 male). Linked-mastoid surface potentials (ERPs) and their corresponding reference-free current source densities (CSDs) were quantified by temporal principal components analysis (PCA).

Helpful activities during the COVID-19 pandemic: Perceived benefits and actual association with psychiatric symptoms and psychological wellbeing.

Background: Few studies have rigorously examined the effectiveness of commonly reported coping activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study was designed to assess perceived helpful activities during the pandemic and to investigate the extent to which these activities were associated with psychological outcomes.

Method: Adults living in the US (N = 204), who were part of a longitudinal family study of depression responded to an online survey.

Dentate Gyrus Microstructure Is Associated With Resilience After Exposure to Maternal Stress Across Two Human Cohorts.

Background: Maternal stress (MS) is a well-documented risk factor for impaired emotional development in offspring. Rodent models implicate the dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus in the effects of MS on offspring depressive-like behaviors, but mechanisms in humans remain unclear. Here, we tested whether MS was associated with depressive symptoms and DG micro- and macrostructural alterations in offspring across 2 independent cohorts.

Pre- and Post-Pandemic Religiosity and Mental Health Outcomes: A Prospective Study.

Relatively few studies have prospectively examined the effects of known protective factors, such as religion, on pandemic-related outcomes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the pre- and post-pandemic trajectories and psychological effects of religious beliefs and religious attendance. Male and female adults ( = 189) reported their beliefs in religious importance () and their religious attendance () both before () and after () the pandemic's onset.

Cognitive Function in People With Familial Risk of Depression.

Importance: Cognitive impairment in depression is poorly understood. Family history of depression is a potentially useful risk marker for cognitive impairment, facilitating early identification and targeted intervention in those at highest risk, even if they do not themselves have depression. Several research cohorts have emerged recently that enable findings to be compared according to varying depths of family history phenotyping, in some cases also with genetic data, across the life span.

Inhibition Predicts the Course of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms Among Adolescents: The Moderating Role of Familial Risk.

Numerous theoretical models suggest that inhibition difficulties-the inability to moderate automatic responses-contribute to the onset and/or maintenance of internalizing symptoms. Inhibition deficits and internalizing disorders run in families and share overlapping genetic risk factors, suggesting that inhibition deficits may be particularly prognostic of internalizing symptoms in those with high familial risk. This study tested this hypothesis in a longitudinal sample during the transition from adolescence to early adulthood.

Putamen Structure and Function in Familial Risk for Depression: A Multimodal Imaging Study.

Background: The putamen has been implicated in depressive disorders, but how its structure and function increase depression risk is not clearly understood. Here, we examined how putamen volume, neuronal density, and mood-modulated functional activity relate to family history and prospective course of depression.

Methods: The study includes 115 second- and third-generation offspring at high or low risk for depression based on the presence or absence of major depressive disorder in the first generation.

Prospectively Predicting Adult Depressive Symptoms from Adolescent Peer Dysfunction: a Sibling Comparison Study.

Previous studies have shown that peer dysfunction in adolescence predicts depression in adulthood, even when controlling for certain individual- and/or family-level characteristics. However, these studies have not controlled for numerous potential familial confounders, precluding causal inferences. The present study therefore used a sibling comparison design (i.

The effects of the pandemic on mental health in persons with and without a psychiatric history.

Background: Prospective studies are needed to assess the influence of pre-pandemic risk factors on mental health outcomes following the COVID-19 pandemic. From direct interviews prior to (), and then in the same individuals after the pandemic onset (), we assessed the influence of personal psychiatric history on changes in symptoms and wellbeing.

Methods: Two hundred and four (19-69 years/117 female) individuals from a multigenerational family study were followed clinically up to .

Enduring problems in the offspring of depressed parents followed up to 38 years.

Background: while the increased risk of major depressive disorder (MDD) in offspring of depressed parents is one of the best-replicated findings in psychiatry, their long-term outcomes are less well known. The clinical outcomes of biological offspring of depressed (high-risk) and not depressed (low-risk) parents who have been directly interviewed over the years are presented.

Methods: longitudinal retrospective cohort study began in 1982, and 276 biological offspring of moderately-to-severely depressed or non-depressed parents from the same community were followed up to 38 years.

Organization of the social cognition network predicts future depression and interpersonal impairment: a prospective family-based study.

Deficits in social cognition and functioning are common in major depressive disorder (MDD). Still, no study into the pathophysiology of MDD has examined the social cognition-related neural pathways through which familial risk for MDD leads to depression and interpersonal impairments. Using resting-state fMRI, we applied a graph theoretical analysis to quantify the influence of nodes within the fronto-temporo-parietal cortical social cognition network in 108 generation 2 and generation 3 offspring at high and low-risk for MDD, defined by the presence or absence, respectively, of moderate to severe MDD in generation 1.

Major depression, temperament, and social support as psychosocial mechanisms of the intergenerational transmission of parenting styles.

In this three-generation longitudinal study of familial depression, we investigated the continuity of parenting styles, and major depressive disorder (MDD), temperament, and social support during childrearing as potential mechanisms. Each generation independently completed the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), measuring individuals' experiences of and received from parents during childhood. MDD was assessed prospectively, up to 38 years, using the semi-structured Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (SADS).

Dissociating disorders of depression, anxiety, and their comorbidity with measures of emotional processing: A joint analysis of visual brain potentials and auditory perceptual asymmetries.

In a multigenerational study of families at risk for depression, individuals with a lifetime history of depression had: 1) abnormal perceptual asymmetry (PA; smaller left ear/right hemisphere [RH] advantage) in a dichotic emotion recognition task, and 2) reduced RH late positive potential (P3) during an emotional hemifield task. We used standardized difference scores for processing auditory (PA sad-neutral) and visual (P3 negative-neutral) stimuli for 112 participants (52 men) in a logistic regression to predict history of depression, anxiety or comorbidity of both. Whereas comorbidity was separately predicted by reduced PA (OR = 0.

Depression Risk Is Associated With Weakened Synchrony Between the Amygdala and Experienced Emotion.

Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with aberrant limbic neural responses to emotional stimuli. We assessed how self-generated emotions modulate trial-by-trial limbic activity and whether this brain-emotion synchrony varies by familial MDD risk (regardless of personal MDD history) and neuroticism.

Methods: Participants (n = 74, mean age = 34 years) were later-generation family members of depressed or nondepressed probands as part of a longitudinal cohort study.

Altered Dentate Gyrus Microstructure in Individuals at High Familial Risk for Depression Predicts Future Symptoms.

Background: Offspring of individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) are at increased risk for developing MDD themselves. Altered hippocampal, and specifically dentate gyrus (DG), structure and function may be involved in depression development. However, hippocampal abnormalities could also be a consequence of the disease.

Predicting Depression Symptoms in Families at Risk for Depression: Interrelations of Posterior EEG Alpha and Religion/Spirituality.

Background: Posterior EEG alpha has been identified as a putative biomarker of clinical outcomes in major depression (MDD). Separately, personal importance of religion and spirituality (R/S) has been shown to provide protective benefits for individuals at high familial risk for MDD. This study directly explored the joint value of posterior alpha and R/S on predicting clinical health outcomes of depression.

Trajectories of childhood anxiety disorders in two generations at high risk.

Background: The course of anxiety disorders during childhood is heterogeneous. In two generations at high or low risk, we described the course of childhood anxiety disorders and evaluated whether parent or grandparent major depressive disorder (MDD) predicted a persistent anxiety course.

Methods: We utilized a multigenerational study (1982-2015), following children (second generation, G2) and grandchildren (third generation, G3) of generation 1 (G1) with either moderate/severe MDD or no psychiatric illness.

Contribution of religion/spirituality and major depressive disorder to altruism.

Background: In most studies, religiosity and spirituality (R/S) are positively associated with altruism, whereas depression is negatively associated. However, the cross-sectional designs of these studies limit their epidemiological value. We examine the association of R/S and major depressive disorder (MDD) with altruism in a five year longitudinal study nested in a larger prospective study.

Understanding self-reported importance of religion/spirituality in a North American sample of individuals at risk for familial depression: A principal component analysis.

Several studies have shown protective effects between health outcomes and subjective reports of religious/spiritual (R/S) importance, as measured by a single self-report item. In a 3-generation study of individuals at high or low familial risk for depression, R/S importance was found to be protective against depression, as indicated by clinical and neurobiological outcomes. The psychological components underlying these protective effects, however, remain little understood.

Adult outcomes of childhood disruptive disorders in offspring of depressed and healthy parents.

Background: Longitudinal studies of children with disruptive disorders (DDs) have shown high rates of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) and substance use in adulthood, but few have examined the contribution of parental disorders. We examine child-/adulthood outcomes of DDs in offspring, whose biological parents did not have a history of ASPD, bipolar disorder, or substance use disorders.

Method: Offspring (N = 267) of parents with or without major depression (MDD), but no ASPD or bipolar disorders were followed longitudinally over 33 years, and associations between DDs and psychiatric and functional outcomes were tested.