Original ArticleDisturbances in Morning Cortisol Secretion in Association with Maternal Postnatal Depression Predict Subsequent Depressive Symptomatology in Adolescents
Section snippets
Methods and Materials
Participants provided written informed consent prior to taking part in this Cambridgeshire Local Ethics Committee-approved study.
Results
The final sample comprised 44 female and 43 male adolescents, with a mean age of 16 years 1 month (range 15 years 8 months to 17 years). Sample characteristics are reported by maternal group in Table 1. The PND and no PND groups were similar in terms of age in months, gender distribution, and socioeconomic status. In addition, at the time of the 13-year cortisol collections, the groups were comparable in terms of BMI and degree of pubertal development (Tanner stage), as previously reported (
Discussion
We have previously reported that 13-year-old adolescents whose mothers had PND showed higher and more variable morning cortisol secretion than adolescents whose mothers were not depressed postnatally (Halligan et al. 2004). In the current article, we extended these findings by demonstrating that these disturbances in 13-year morning cortisol status 1) predicted depressive symptom status at 16 years and 2) mediated an association between maternal PND and 16-year depressive symptoms in
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