Clinical features of major depressive disorder in adolescents and their relatives: impact on familial aggregation, implications for phenotype definition, and specificity of transmission

Daniel N Klein; Peter M Lewinsohn; Paul Rohde; John R Seeley; C Emily Durbin

Clinical features of major depressive disorder in adolescents and their relatives: impact on familial aggregation, implications for phenotype definition, and specificity of transmission

J Abnorm Psychol. 2002 Feb;111(1):98-106.

Authors

Daniel N Klein¹, Peter M Lewinsohn, Paul Rohde, John R Seeley, C Emily Durbin

Affiliation

¹ Department of Psychology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, 11794-2500, USA. dklein@notes.cc.sunysb.edu

PMID: 11866183

Abstract

Three questions were addressed using family study data from a community sample: (a) Which clinical features of major depressive disorder (MDD) in adolescents are associated with elevated rates of MDD in relatives? (b) Which features of MDD in relatives distinguish family members of depressed adolescents from relatives of adolescents without mood disorders (NMD)? and (c) Do depressed adolescents with particular features have higher proportions of depressed relatives with the same features? Participants included 268 MDD adolescents, 401 NMD adolescents, and their 2,202 first-degree relatives. Rates of MDD were highest among relatives of depressed adolescents with recurrent episodes and greater impairment. Depression severity best distinguished the relatives of depressed adolescents from relatives of controls. Specific clinical features did not aggregate in families.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Depressive Disorder, Major / genetics*
Depressive Disorder, Major / psychology*
Family / psychology*
Female
Humans
Male
Parent-Child Relations*
Phenotype
Psychology, Adolescent

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding