A family cognitive-behavioral preventive intervention for parents with a history of depression and their 9–15-year-old children was compared with a self-study written information condition in a randomized clinical trial (n = 111 families). Outcomes were assessed at postintervention (2 months), after completion of 4 monthly booster sessions (6 months), and at 12-month follow-up. Children were assessed by child reports on depressive symptoms, internalizing problems, and externalizing problems; by parent reports on internalizing and externalizing problems; and by child and parent reports on a standardized diagnostic interview. Parent depressive symptoms and parent episodes of major depression also were assessed. Evidence emerged for significant differences favoring the family group intervention on both child and parent outcomes; strongest effects for child outcomes were found at the 12-month assessment with medium effect sizes on most measures. Implications for the prevention of adverse outcomes in children of depressed parents are highlighted.

In a randomized clinical trial with 111 families of parents with a history of major depressive disorder (86% mothers; 86% Caucasian), changes in adolescents’ (mean age 11 years; 42% female) coping and parents’ parenting skills were examined as mediators of the effects of a family group cognitive behavioral preventive intervention on adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Changes in hypothesized mediators were assessed at 6-months and changes in adolescents’ symptoms were measured at 12-month follow-up. Significant differences favoring the family intervention as compared with a written information comparison condition were found for changes in composite measures of parent-adolescent reports of adolescents’ use of secondary control coping skills and direct observations of parents’ positive parenting skills. Changes in adolescents’ secondary control coping and positive parenting mediated the effects of the intervention on depressive, internalizing and externalizing symptoms accounting for approximately half of the effect of the intervention on the outcomes. Further, reciprocal relations between children’s internalizing symptoms and parenting were found from baseline to 6-month follow-up. Implications for the prevention of psychopathology in offspring of depressed parents are highlighted.

Examined children's coping and involuntary responses to the stress of living with a depressed parent in relation to their symptoms of anxiety/depression and aggression. Sixty-six clinically depressed adults rated their children's (ages 7 to 17 years old; N = 101) coping and involuntary responses to parental stressors and anxiety/depressive and aggressive behavior symptoms. Based on parent report, children of depressed parents had high rates of symptoms of anxiety/depression and aggression, were exposed to moderate levels of parental stressors (parental intrusiveness, parental withdrawal), and responded to the stress of living with a depressed parent in ways that were associated with symptoms of psychopathology. Children's use of secondary control coping (e.g., positive thinking, acceptance, distraction) was associated with fewer anxiety/depression and aggression symptoms. In contrast, involuntary engagement responses (e.g., rumination, intrusive thoughts) were associated with more anxiety/depression and aggression symptoms. Path analyses revealed that a model in which secondary control coping and involuntary engagement stress responses mediated the relation between family stressors and child symptoms provided the best fit with the data. Implications of these findings for developing interventions for children to reduce the risk of psychopathology are discussed.

This study examined associations between adolescents' self-reports and parents' reports of adolescents' exposure to family stress, coping, and symptoms of anxiety/depression and aggression in a sample of 78 adolescent offspring of depressed parents. Significant cross-informant correlations were found between adolescents' reports of family stress, their stress responses, and their coping and parents' reports of adolescents' symptoms of anxiety/depression and aggression, but not between parents' reports of adolescents' stress and coping and adolescents' self-reported symptoms. Adolescents' reports of secondary control engagement coping and involuntary engagement stress responses mediated the relation between adolescents' reports of parental stress and parents' reports of adolescents' anxiety/depression symptoms. Moderate levels of correspondence were found in the correlations between parent and adolescent reports of adolescents' exposure to stress, coping, stress responses, and symptoms even after controlling for parents' current depressive symptoms. However, depressed parents reported higher levels of symptoms of anxiety/depression and aggression and more family stress than did their adolescent offspring. Implications for future research on coping and adjustment in offspring of depressed parents are highlighted.

Objective In a long-term follow-up of a randomized controlled trial (Compas et al., 2009), to examine the effects at 18- and 24-month follow-ups of a Family Group Cognitive Behavioral (FGCB) preventive intervention for mental health outcomes for children and parents from families (N = 111) of parents with a history of major depressive disorder (MDD). Method Parents with a history of MDD and their 9 to 15-year-old children were randomly assigned to a FGCB intervention or a Written Information (WI) comparison condition. Children’s internalizing, externalizing, anxiety/depression, and depressive symptoms, episodes of MDD and other psychiatric diagnoses, and parents’ depressive symptoms and episodes of MDD were assessed at 18- and 24-months after randomization. Results Children in the FGCB condition were significantly lower in self-reports of anxiety/depression and internalizing symptoms at 18-months and significantly lower in externalizing symptoms at 18- and 24-months. Rates of MDD were significantly lower for children in the FGCB intervention over the 24-month follow-up (odds ratio = 2.91). No significant effects were found for parents’ symptoms of depression or episodes of MDD. Conclusions Support was found for a FGCB preventive intervention for children of parents with a history of MDD significantly reducing children’s episodes of MDD over a period of 2 years. Significant effects for the FGCB intervention were also found on internalizing and externalizing symptoms, with stronger effects at 18- than at 24-month follow-up.