Parent-child agreement on children's psychopathology and the impact of parental depression

Abstract

Background

Parental depression increases children's risk of mental illness and may simultaneously impair the detection of children's symptoms. Here we investigate the nature of parent-child agreement of children's psychopathology in children of parents with current (cMD) versus remitted (rMD) major depression.

Methods

Baseline data from 100 parent-child dyads including healthy children aged 8–17 (M = 11.89, SD = 2.83) and their parents with a history of depression were analysed. The presence of sub-clinical psychopathology (yes/no) in children was assessed using semi-structured diagnostic interviews with child and parent (K-DIPS). Self- (YSR) and parent-report (CBCL) questionnaires were used to measure the severity of symptoms. Parent-child agreement was calculated using Chi-square tests and Cohen's kappa respectively. We compared whether agreement differed between children of parents with cMD (n = 52) versus rMD (n = 48).

Results

In the interviews parents more frequently reported sub-clinical child psychopathology than the children themselves (χ² _1,100 = 4.63, p < 0.001, d = 0.59). This pattern characterised parents with cMD (χ² _1,52 = 7.99, p = 0.005; κ = 0.582) but not rMD (χ² _1,48 = 000, p = 0.686; κ = −0.010), a difference which was statistically significant (z = 3.14, p < 0.001, d = 0.66).

Conclusion

Since agreement between parents and children about the severity of children's symptoms was particularly poor in families where parents were currently depressed, parental mental illness should be taken into account when assessing youth psychopathology.