Children of parents addicted to drugs and alchohol likely to suffer depression at adulthood

Updated on: Monday, May 13, 2013

Offsprings of parents who are addicted to drugs or alcohol are more likely to be depressed in adulthood, according to a new study.

University of Toronto researchers examined the association between parental addictions and adult depression in a representative sample of 6,268 adults, drawn from the 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey.

Of these respondents, 312 had a major depressive episode within the year preceding the survey and 877 reported that while they were under the age of 18 and still living at home that at least one parent who drank or used drugs "so often that it caused problems for the family".

Results indicate that individuals whose parents were addicted to drugs or alcohol are more likely to develop depression than their peers.

After adjusting for age, sex and race, parental addictions were associated with more than twice the odds of adult depression, said lead author Esme Fuller-Thomson, Professor and Sandra Rotman Endowed Chair in the University of Toronto's Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and the Department of Family and Community Medicine.

"Even after adjusting for factors ranging from childhood maltreatment and parental unemployment to adult health behaviours including smoking and alcohol consumption, we found that parental addictions were associated with 69 per cent higher odds of depression in adulthood," said Fuller-Thomson.

The study could not determine the cause of the relationship between parental addictions and adult depression.

"It is possible that the prolonged and inescapable strain of parental addictions may permanently alter the way these children's bodies reacts to stress throughout their life," said co-author Robyn Katz.

"One important avenue for future research is to investigate potential dysfunctions in cortisol production -the hormone that prepares us for 'fight or flight' - which may influence the later development of depression," Katz said.

"These findings underscore the intergenerational consequences of drug and alcohol addiction and reinforce the need to develop interventions that support healthy childhood development," said Fuller-Thomson.

The study was published in the journal Psychiatry Research.

Children of parents addicted to drugs and alchohol likely to suffer depression at adulthood

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