Mood Disorders And Emotional And Behavioral Problems In Offspring Of Parents With And Without A Mood Disorder: OSF Registries

Having a parent with a mood disorder (i.e., major depressive disorder (MDD) or bipolar disorder (BD)) is one of the strongest risk factors for developing a mood disorder (Merikangas & Low, 2004). It is therefore not surprising that research into offspring of parents with a mood disorder history goes back decades (Sandstrom et al., 2019). These studies have shown that by age 35, about 65% of these high-risk offspring have developed a mood disorder (Havinga et al., 2016; Helmink, Mesman, & Hillegers, 2024). A recent meta-analysis found that the risk of developing mood disorders is increased in offspring of parents with mood disorders, but the risk differs by type of disorder (Uher et al., 2023). However, most studies have focused on offspring of only one mood disorder, whereas few have investigated and directly compared offspring of parents with either MDD or BD (i.e., a cross-disorder approach). This makes it harder to draw conclusions regarding the specificity of the intergenerational transmission of mood disorders (De Graaf, Ten Have, & van Dorsselaer, 2010; Havinga et al., 2016; Maciejewski, Hillegers, & Penninx, 2018; Mesman et al., 2013). Another limitation of previous research is that it often lacked a control group, resulting in a limited understanding of how mental health of high-risk offspring compares to offspring of parents without a mood disorder (Maciejewski, Hillegers, & Penninx, 2018). Lastly, although it is clear that having a parent with a mood disorder increases the risk for psychopathology in the offspring, it is less clear to what extent the age of onset and psychiatric comorbidity of the mood disorder in the parent, and the presence of mood disorders in the co-parent further increases this risk. This study describes one of the largest cohorts of offspring of parents with a mood disorder, and has as its aims to 1. compare the prevalence of mood and other psychiatric disorders as well as emotional and behavioural problems in offspring of parents with a mood disorder vs. offspring of healthy control parents. 2. assess to what extent psychiatric characteristics (i.e., mood disorder type, age of onset, comorbidity) of the affected parent are associated with mood and other psychiatric disorders as well as emotional and behavioural problems in the offspring, and 3. to what extent the presence of a mood disorder in the co-parent further contributes to the risk of mood disorders and emotional and behavioural problems in offspring.