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Child and Adult Depression: A Test of Continuities with Data from a Family Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

R. C. Harrington ,
H. Fudge ,
M. L. Rutter ,
D. Bredenkamp ,
C. Groothues  and
J. Pridham
R. C. Harrington*
Affiliation:
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Royal Manchester Childrens' Hospital, Pendleburg, Manchester M27 1HA
H. Fudge
Affiliation:
Child Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF
M. L. Rutter
Affiliation:
MRC Child Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF
D. Bredenkamp
Affiliation:
Child Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF
C. Groothues
Affiliation:
Child Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF
J. Pridham
Affiliation:
Child Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF
*
∗Correspondence
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Abstract

The summaries of clinical data on children attending the Maudsley Hospital during the years 1968-72 were used to identify 80 children meeting operational criteria for depression, and 80 matched psychiatric control children. At follow-up, on average 18 years after the initial contact, information was obtained on the adult outcomes of 62 of the depressed children and 69 of the controls. At least one first-degree relative of 111 (85%) of these probands was interviewed; the great majority of interviews with relatives were conducted ‘blind’ to the proband's symptoms in both childhood and adulthood. The lifetime prevalence of RDC depression was significantly higher in the 128 interviewed relatives of the depressed children than in the 151 relatives of the controls. Higher rates of depression were found among the female relatives of both the depressed and control probands. These findings suggest that depression in young people resembles depression in adults in two key respects: it tends to run in families, and there are higher rates of depression among the female than among the male first-degree relatives.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 162 , Issue 5 , May 1993 , pp. 627 - 633
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1993 

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