When inflammation and depression go together: The longitudinal effects of parent-child relationships

Steven R H Beach; Man Kit Lei; Ronald L Simons; Ashley B Barr; Leslie G Simons; Katherine Ehrlich; Gene H Brody; Robert A Philibert

doi:10.1017/S0954579417001523

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When inflammation and depression go together: The longitudinal effects of parent-child relationships

Journal article

Peer reviewed

When inflammation and depression go together: The longitudinal effects of parent-child relationships

Steven R H Beach, Man Kit Lei, Ronald L Simons, Ashley B Barr, Leslie G Simons, Katherine Ehrlich, Gene H Brody and Robert A Philibert

Development and psychopathology, Vol.29(5), pp.1969-1986

12/2017

DOI: 10.1017/S0954579417001523

PMCID: PMC5774864

PMID: 29162196

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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/5774864View

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Abstract

Parent-child relationships have long-term effects on health, particularly later inflammation and depression. We hypothesized that these effects would be mediated by later romantic partner relationships and elevated stressors in young adulthood, helping promote chronic, low grade, inflammation as well as depressive symptoms, and driving their covariation. It has been proposed recently that youth experiencing harsher parenting may also develop a stronger association between inflammation and depressive symptoms in adulthood and altered effects of stressors on outcomes. In the current investigation, we test these ideas using an 18-year longitudinal study of N = 413 African American youth that provides assessment of the parent-child relationship (at age 10), pro-inflammatory cytokine profile and depressive symptoms (at age 28), and potential mediators in early young adulthood (assessed at ages 21 and 24). As predicted, the effect of harsher parent-child relationships (age 10) on pro-inflammatory state and increased depressive symptoms at age 28 were fully mediated through young adult stress and romantic partner relationships. In addition, beyond these mediated effects, parent-child relationships at age 10 moderated the concurrent association between inflammation and depressive symptoms, as well as the prospective association between romantic partner relationships and inflammation, and resulted in substantially different patterns of indirect effects from young adult mediators to outcomes. The results support theorizing that the association of depression and inflammation in young adulthood is conditional on earlier parenting, and suggest incorporating this perspective into models predicting long-term health outcomes.

Parenting

Prospective Studies

Humans

Male

Inflammation

Stress, Psychological - psychology

Stress, Psychological - immunology

Young Adult

Adolescent

Depression - psychology

Adult

Female

Sexual Partners

Parent-Child Relations

Child

Interpersonal Relations

Longitudinal Studies

African Americans - psychology

Depression - immunology

Details

Title: Subtitle: When inflammation and depression go together: The longitudinal effects of parent-child relationships
Creators: Steven R H Beach - University of Georgia
Man Kit Lei - University of Georgia
Ronald L Simons - University of Georgia
Ashley B Barr - State University of New York Buffalo
Leslie G Simons - University of Georgia
Katherine Ehrlich - University of Georgia
Gene H Brody - University of Georgia
Robert A Philibert - University of Iowa
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Development and psychopathology, Vol.29(5), pp.1969-1986
DOI: 10.1017/S0954579417001523
PMID: 29162196
PMCID: PMC5774864
NLM abbreviation: Dev Psychopathol
ISSN: 0954-5794
eISSN: 1469-2198
Publisher: United States
Grant note: R01 HD030588 / NICHD NIH HHS\nP30 DA027827 / NIDA NIH HHS\nR01 HD080749 / NICHD NIH HHS
Language: English
Date published: 12/2017
Academic Unit: Roy J. Carver Department of Biomedical Engineering; Psychiatry; Iowa Neuroscience Institute
Record Identifier: 9984070146102771

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