Psychological Medicine

  • Psychological Medicine / Volume 43 / Issue 03 / March 2013, pp 519-528
  • Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012 The online version of this article is published within an Open Access environment subject to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike licence <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/>.. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use.
  • DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0033291712001298 (About DOI), Published online: 14 June 2012
  • OPEN ACCESS

Table of Contents - March 2013 - Volume 43, Issue 03  

Original Articles

Intergenerational transmission of maltreatment and psychopathology: the role of antenatal depression

D. T. Planta1 c1, E. D. Barkera2, C. S. Watersa3, S. Pawlbya1 and C. M. Pariantea1

a1 Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK

a2 Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, UK

a3 School of Psychology, Cardiff University, UK

Background Maternal experience of childhood maltreatment and maternal antenatal depression are both associated with offspring childhood maltreatment and offspring adjustment problems. We have investigated the relative impact of maternal childhood maltreatment and exposure to depression in utero on offspring maltreatment and psychopathology.

Method The sample included 125 families from the South London Child Development Study. A prospective longitudinal design was used. Data on maternal childhood maltreatment, maternal antenatal depression (36 weeks of pregnancy), offspring childhood maltreatment (age 11 years) and offspring adolescent antisocial behaviour and depression (ages 11 and 16 years) were obtained from parents and offspring through clinical interview.

Results Mothers who experienced childhood maltreatment were significantly more likely to be depressed during pregnancy [odds ratio (OR) 10.00]. Offspring of mothers who experienced only childhood maltreatment or only antenatal depression were no more at risk of being maltreated or having psychopathology; however, offspring of mothers who experienced both maternal childhood maltreatment and antenatal depression were exposed to significantly greater levels of childhood maltreatment and exhibited significantly higher levels of adolescent antisocial behaviour compared with offspring not so exposed. Furthermore, maternal childhood maltreatment accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in offspring childhood maltreatment in only those offspring exposed to depression in utero.

Conclusions Maternal childhood maltreatment and maternal antenatal depression are highly associated. The co-occurrence of both insults significantly increases the risk of offspring adversity. The antenatal period is an optimum period to identify vulnerable women and to provide interventions.

(Received November 11 2011)

(Revised May 02 2012)

(Accepted May 17 2012)

(Online publication June 14 2012)

Key words

  • Adolescents;
  • antisocial behaviour;
  • maltreatment;
  • pregnancy;
  • prenatal stress

Correspondence

c1 Address for correspondence: D. T. Plant, 2-059 James Black Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, 125 Coldharbour Lane, London SE5 9NU, UK. (Email: dominic.plant@kcl.ac.uk)

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