Depression In Daughters May Be Influenced By Mother's Birth Age

Women who give birth at 30 or older are more likely to have daughters, but not sons, who may experience symptoms of depression as young adults, according to a recent study.

Researchers at the University of Western Australia found that daughters whose mothers were 30 to 34 when they gave birth reported significantly higher levels of stress, while mothers 35 and up at the time of birth had daughters with significantly higher levels of anxiety, depression and stress when compared to daughters whose mothers gave birth under the age of 30.

During the study, researchers analyzed data from the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study. From 1989 to 1991, pregnant women were recruited for the study and required to provide psychological and demographic information. The resulting offspring then underwent psychological assessments at various ages over the next 23 years.

Researchers examined self-reported levels of various symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress from 1,200 offspring by the age of 20--meanwhile comparing information to the age of their parents at the time they were born.

Researchers found no affect for children whose mothers gave birth under the age of 20. The father's age at the time of birth also showed now emotional affect on the children later in life. 

"One hypothesis is difficulties may occur in the mother-daughter relationship because of a large age difference between the two," said said Jessica Tearne, a doctoral student at the University of Western Australia and lead author of the study, in a news release. "It may be that a 30 or more year age difference between mother and daughter leads to a significant difference in the value systems that may cause tensions in the relationship, leading to stress, worry and sadness in the child, particularly during the transition to young adulthood."

Another possible explanation may be that the women who gave birth over age 30 would be in their 50s at the time their children were assessed and therefore more likely to be experiencing health problems associated with aging. This could also lead to higher levels of symptoms in the children, Tearne said. Other studies have suggested that daughters are more affected by their mother's health problems than sons, which could explain why the effect only appears in daughters, she said.

The study is published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology.

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