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 Researchers followed 18,185 volunteers starting when they were age
15 on average and continuing until ages 32 to 43. In a series of
surveys, researchers asked them about family dynamics and depression
symptoms.
Youth who experienced more family cohesion and less conflict with
parents were less likely to experience depression symptoms from
adolescence through midlife than young people who didn't have such
positive family relationships, the analysis found.
"Family cohesion and low parent-child conflict in adolescence not
only protect teenagers from depression during the sensitive and
vulnerable period of adolescence but also promote mental health
throughout young adulthood and into midlife," said study co-author
Ping Chen of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The benefit appears different for men and women, however.
"Women benefit more from positive adolescent family relationships
than men, especially in adolescence and the early 20s," Chen said by
email. "But low parent-child conflict seems to benefit men for a
longer time throughout young adulthood than women."
To assess family dynamics, researchers asked teens how often they
felt their family members understood them, how often they had fun
with family, and how often their family paid attention to them.
Researchers also asked about parent-child conflict and how often
teens had serious arguments with parents about their behavior.
However, they lacked data on family dynamics or relationships prior
to adolescence that might also impact mental health, the research
team notes in JAMA Pediatrics.
"This study cannot determine whether parent-child relationships
cause depression or not and does not explain why the two might be
linked," said Dr. Rebecca Dudovitz, a researcher at the David Geffen
School of Medicine at UCLA who wasn't involved in the study.
"However, one theory is that healthy family relationships provide
social support and lay the foundation in the brain and body for a
healthy response to stressful situations," Dudovitz said by email.
"As adolescents and young adults are faced with stress, they can
then cope with it more easily and recover from stress more quickly,
which helps avoid depression."
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The study results do suggest that teens who live in a supportive
home environment with caregivers who understand them and pay
attention to them can help build up positive feelings that may help
teens more easily weather life's ups and downs, Chen said.
"Close relations may provide sources of social and emotional support
that encourages the development of skills for coping with the
changing and cumulative stressors of adolescence," Chen added. "The
coping skills developed in adolescence are carried over into
subsequent life stages, helping young adults deal with additional
life stressors as they age."
At the same time, teens without supportive family relationships may
not develop these coping skills, Chen said. They may instead develop
more negative feelings and low self-esteem and enter adulthood
ill-equipped to cope with stressors.
While family relationships may be one piece of the puzzle, many
other factors can impact the risk of depression, Chen said.
"No one knows exactly what causes it," and factors like genetics,
abuse, or serious illnesses can play a role, Chen noted.
"Adolescents in less cohesive families need not be doomed to
lifetime depression," Chen said. "They may be able to find similar
sources of social support and gain coping skills through other
social connections with friends, in religious and other
institutions, and in the local community."
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/30VAuPX JAMA Pediatrics, online October 7,
2019.
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