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Current Parental Depression and Offspring Perceived Self-Competence: A Quasi-Experimental Examination

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Abstract

A genetically-informed, quasi-experimental design was used to examine the genetic and environmental processes underlying associations between current parental depressive symptoms and offspring perceived self-competence. Participants, drawn from a population-based Swedish sample, were 852 twin pairs and their male (52 %) and female offspring aged 15.7 ± 2.4 years. Parental depressive symptoms were measured using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale. Offspring perceived self-competence was measured using a modified Harter Perceived Competence Scale. Cousin comparisons and Children of Twins designs suggested that associations between maternal depressive symptoms and offspring perceived self-competence were due to shared genetic/environmental liability. The mechanism responsible for father–offspring associations, however, was independent of genetic factors and of extended family environmental factors, supporting a causal inference. Thus, mothers and fathers may impact offspring perceived self-competence via different mechanisms and unmeasured genetic and environmental selection factors must be considered when studying the intergenerational transmission of cognitive vulnerabilities for depression.

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Acknowledgments

The TOSS study was supported by NIMH (R01MH54601; PI: Reiss—Cohort 1; PI: Neiderhiser—Cohort 2). QAC was supported by grants from Indiana CTSI Career Development Award (5TL1RR025759-03, PI: Shekhar) and Kirschstein NRSA (MH 094011). NICHD (HD HD061817) supported BMD.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, 1101 E. 10th Street, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA

    Quetzal A. Class, Brian M. D’Onofrio & Amber L. Singh

  2. Department of Psychology, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA

    Jody M. Ganiban & Jenae M. Neiderhiser

  3. Division of Behavioral & Social Research, National Institute on Aging, Bethesda, MD, USA

    E. L. Spotts

  4. Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

    Paul Lichtenstein

  5. Child Study Center, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    David Reiss

  6. Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Jenae M. Neiderhiser

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  1. Quetzal A. Class
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  2. Brian M. D’Onofrio
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  3. Amber L. Singh
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  4. Jody M. Ganiban
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  8. Jenae M. Neiderhiser
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Correspondence to Quetzal A. Class.

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Edited by Hill Goldsmith and John Hewitt.

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Class, Q.A., D’Onofrio, B.M., Singh, A.L. et al. Current Parental Depression and Offspring Perceived Self-Competence: A Quasi-Experimental Examination. Behav Genet 42, 787–797 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-012-9550-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-012-9550-1

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