Stress Exposure and Maternal Depression as Risk Factors for Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression in Adolescents

Little research has explored the implications of stress inside and outside of the family as a risk factor for psychological symptoms in adolescents of depressed mothers. In a sample of 115 adolescents and their mothers with and without depression histories, adolescents’ family and peer stress exposure was measured through the Responses to Stress Questionnaire, and adolescents’ anxious/depressed symptoms were measured with the Youth Self Report and Child Behavior Checklist. Mothers reported their current depression symptoms on the Beck Depression Inventory-II. Results suggest that adolescents of mothers with depression histories and current depression symptoms experience more family and peer stress than adolescents of nondepressed mothers. In multiple linear regression analyses, current maternal depression symptoms moderated the relation between adolescent peer stress and adolescent anxious/depressed symptoms, such that peer stress was associated with anxious/depressed symptoms when maternal depression symptoms were average or high, but not when maternal depression symptoms were low.