Child characteristics and parents' risk of depression in old age: The impact of number, sex and educational attainment

IF 4.9 2区医学 Q1 CLINICAL NEUROLOGY

Journal of affective disorders Pub Date : 2025-05-29 DOI:10.1016/j.jad.2025.119538

Anna Becker-Larsen , Else Foverskov , Merete Osler , Terese Sara Høj Jørgensen

{"title":"Child characteristics and parents' risk of depression in old age: The impact of number, sex and educational attainment","authors":"Anna Becker-Larsen , Else Foverskov , Merete Osler , Terese Sara Høj Jørgensen","doi":"10.1016/j.jad.2025.119538","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><div>Knowledge about the impact of having adult children on the risk of depression in old age is limited. This study aims to examine the association of having children and their characteristics (number, sex, and education) on their parents' risk of depression in old age.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>A main study population of all older adults (<em>N</em> = 1,064,652) born 1935–1953 and living in Denmark at the age of 65, were followed for up to 10 years for incident depression diagnosis or incident use of antidepressant medication in nationwide registers. Associations were estimated using adjusted Cox Proportional Hazards models.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>During the mean follow-up time of 6.7 years, the incidence rate of depression in the main study population was 196 per 10,000 person-years (IR:196, 95 % CI: [195;197]). Compared to having children, not having children was associated with 8 % (HR: 0.92, 95%CI: [0.90;0.94]) lower HR of depression among older adults. For specific characteristics of adult children, having one child was associated with 3 % (HR: 1.03, 95%CI: [1.02;1.05]) higher HR of depression compared to having 2–3 children. 4+ children and sex of children were not associated with depression. Having adult children with a short or medium education, respectively, as the longest educational attainment were associated with 22 % (HR: 1.22, 95%CI: [1.19;1.25]) and 10 % (HR:1.10, 95%CI: [1.08;1.11]) higher HR of depression compared to having adult children with a long education.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>Availability and characteristics, especially educational attainment, of adult children were identified to be associated with their parent's probability of being with depression in old age.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14963,"journal":{"name":"Journal of affective disorders","volume":"388 ","pages":"Article 119538"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of affective disorders","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165032725009802","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CLINICAL NEUROLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Introduction

Knowledge about the impact of having adult children on the risk of depression in old age is limited. This study aims to examine the association of having children and their characteristics (number, sex, and education) on their parents' risk of depression in old age.

Methods

A main study population of all older adults (N = 1,064,652) born 1935–1953 and living in Denmark at the age of 65, were followed for up to 10 years for incident depression diagnosis or incident use of antidepressant medication in nationwide registers. Associations were estimated using adjusted Cox Proportional Hazards models.

Results

During the mean follow-up time of 6.7 years, the incidence rate of depression in the main study population was 196 per 10,000 person-years (IR:196, 95 % CI: [195;197]). Compared to having children, not having children was associated with 8 % (HR: 0.92, 95%CI: [0.90;0.94]) lower HR of depression among older adults. For specific characteristics of adult children, having one child was associated with 3 % (HR: 1.03, 95%CI: [1.02;1.05]) higher HR of depression compared to having 2–3 children. 4+ children and sex of children were not associated with depression. Having adult children with a short or medium education, respectively, as the longest educational attainment were associated with 22 % (HR: 1.22, 95%CI: [1.19;1.25]) and 10 % (HR:1.10, 95%CI: [1.08;1.11]) higher HR of depression compared to having adult children with a long education.

Conclusion

Availability and characteristics, especially educational attainment, of adult children were identified to be associated with their parent's probability of being with depression in old age.

查看原文本刊更多论文

儿童特征与父母老年抑郁风险：人数、性别和受教育程度的影响。

关于有成年子女对老年抑郁症风险的影响的知识是有限的。本研究旨在探讨生育子女及其特征（数量、性别和受教育程度）与父母老年抑郁风险的关系。方法：主要研究人群为1935-1953年出生的所有老年人（N = 1,064,652），年龄为65岁，居住在丹麦，在全国范围内登记，随访长达10 年的事件抑郁症诊断或事件使用抗抑郁药物。使用调整后的Cox比例风险模型估计关联。结果：在平均6.7 年的随访期间，主要研究人群的抑郁症发病率为196 / 10000人年（IR: 1969,95 % CI:[195;197]）。与有孩子的老年人相比，没有孩子的老年人抑郁风险比降低了8 % （HR: 0.92, 95%CI:[0.90;0.94]）。对于成年子女的具体特征，有一个孩子与有2-3个孩子相比，抑郁的风险比高3 % （HR: 1.03, 95%CI:[1.02;1.05]）。4+儿童和儿童性别与抑郁症无关。成年子女受教育时间较短或中等，分别与成年子女受教育时间较长相比，患抑郁症的风险比高22% % （HR: 1.22, 95%CI:[1.19;1.25]）和10% % （HR:1.10, 95%CI:[1.08;1.11]）。结论：成年子女的可获得性和特征，特别是受教育程度，与父母老年抑郁的可能性有关。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Journal of affective disorders 医学-精神病学

CiteScore

10.90

自引率

6.10%

发文量

1319

审稿时长

9.3 weeks

期刊介绍： The Journal of Affective Disorders publishes papers concerned with affective disorders in the widest sense: depression, mania, mood spectrum, emotions and personality, anxiety and stress. It is interdisciplinary and aims to bring together different approaches for a diverse readership. Top quality papers will be accepted dealing with any aspect of affective disorders, including neuroimaging, cognitive neurosciences, genetics, molecular biology, experimental and clinical neurosciences, pharmacology, neuroimmunoendocrinology, intervention and treatment trials.