Factors mediating the intergenerational transmission of depressive symptoms: A Hong Kong study

Background

Though parental depression has been linked to children’s depressive symptoms, that association’s underlying mechanisms remain unclear in Chinese families, as does the influence of the quality of parent–child relationships and family resources (i.e., family income and family psychological capital) on the familial transmission of depression.

Method

In our short-term longitudinal study conducted in Hong Kong, 110 children (mean age = 11.2 years) and their biological parents (mean age = 43.4) diagnosed with depression completed self-report questionnaires about their demographics, depressive symptoms, parent–child relationship quality, and family resources at two times spaced 9 months apart. We tested parent–child relationship quality as a potential mediator between parental depression and children’s depressive symptoms, as well as family income and family psychological capital as a potential mediator between parental depression and parent–child relationship quality.

Results

Parental depression predicted depressive symptoms in children. Parent–child relationship quality was negatively correlated with children’s and parents’ depressive symptoms, whereas family income and family psychological capital were negatively correlated with parental depressive symptoms but positively correlated with parent–child relationship quality. Path modeling analysis revealed that parent–child relationship quality fully mediated the effects of parental depression on children’s development of depressive symptoms. However, that mediating effect disappeared when family income or family psychological capital was included in the model. Thus, family resources (i.e., family income and family psychological capital) and parent–child relationship quality sequentially mediated the effect of parental depression on children’s depressive symptoms.

Conclusion

Our results highlight that family resources and parent–child relationship quality buffer children of depressed parents from developing depressive symptoms in Chinese contexts. Family-based intervention should be provided to families with depressed parents to enhance parent–child relationships and family resources in order to reduce children’s risk of developing depressive symptoms.