New research suggests that older mothers may be more
likely to have depressive daughters.
The
Background
There’s a lot of scary research out there on how
parents’ ages impact their children. Some studies suggest that children of
older parents have an increased risk of autism spectrum
disorder, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, while other studies suggest that
children of teenaged parents face an increased risk of
mood disorders, juvenile crime and substance abuse. These studies don’t
necessarily prove that a parent’s age at a child’s birth actually causes
anything, but they do provide insight into the complicated factors that may
contribute to detrimental outcomes.
In a new study, researchers from the University of
Western Australia turn their attention to symptoms of depression and anxiety,
rather than actual diagnoses, to see how parents’ ages might impact children
who don’t meet the criteria for psychiatric diagnosis.
The Setup
Researchers studied
1,220 mothers and fathers from the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine)
Study. Participants were recruited during pregnancy at hospitals between 1989
and 1991. The researchers followed up with these parents for 20 years through
surveys where parents reported their children’s symptoms of depression, anxiety
and stress.
To rule out
previously established “the researchers controlled for maternal education, maternal
smoking during the first 18 weeks of pregnancy, maternal smoking during the
stressful life events in the first 18 weeks of pregnancy, total family income
and maternal diagnosis of gestational hypertension.
The Findings
The researchers
found that, compared to daughters of mothers who gave birth between ages 25 and
29, daughters of mothers who gave birth between ages 30 and 34 had a
significant increased risk of showing symptoms of depression, anxiety and
stress. This risk increased for daughters of mothers who gave birth over the
age of 35. The researchers didn’t find a link between father’s age and
daughter’s symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress, nor did they find a link
between parental age and the mental health of sons.
Previous studies that measured actual diagnoses have
found links between older dads and mood disorders.
Since this new study found
opposing results, the researchers hypothesize that, when it comes to symptoms –
and full-blown diagnoses – the link between mothers’ ages and daughters’ mental
health could have more to do with interactions with the parent than biology.
They write that mothers in the study “may have played a greater caregiving
role” than fathers, which could have led to this nuanced discrepancy.
The Takeaway
It’s hard to
pinpoint exactly what caused daughters in the study to develop symptoms of
depression, anxiety and stress – after all, the phenomenon may have had nothing
to do with the mothers’ ages at time their daughters were born. The researchers
write that perhaps it had more to do with the mothers’ ages when they reported
their daughters’ symptoms, not the age they gave birth. Or the link could be
attributed to the fact that older women are more susceptible to menopause and
major health problems, which may have stressed out daughters at the time their
moms were surveyed.
The point is: There
are a lot of potential confounding variables here, so don’t put too much stock
in these findings until more research is done.
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