Intergenerational Transmission of Psychological Maltreatment and Adolescent Depression

Depression in adolescents is detrimental to their quality of life and wellbeing. Previous research has found that childhood psychological maltreatment (CPM) is positively associated with adolescents' depressive symptoms. However, little is known about the relationship between parental CPM and depressive symptoms in their offspring. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine the relationship between parental CPM and offspring depressive symptoms, as well as the possible mediating variables in this relationship. The present study recruited 315 Chinese high school students (Mage = 17.27, SDage = 0.80, 137 boys) and their parents to complete the Child Psychological Maltreatment Scale and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. The results revealed that parental CPM was related to both offspring psychological maltreatment and parental depressive symptoms. Furthermore, we found that the relationship between parental CPM and offspring depressive symptoms was mediated by parental depressive symptoms and offspring psychological maltreatment. These findings suggest that parents with a history of psychological maltreatment were related to increased adolescent depressive symptoms through the exposure of the next generation to CPM. These results have some implications for parents and adolescents in terms of intervention approaches to treat CPM and depressive symptoms, which could further promote health and wellbeing. Parental childhood psychological maltreatment was associated with increased adolescent psychological maltreatment, suggesting an intergenerational transmission of childhood psychological maltreatment.Our findings extend the cycle of violence theory, which suggested that implicit forms of violence, such as psychological maltreatment, also have intergenerational transmission effects.Psychological maltreatment is positively related to depressive symptoms.Adolescent psychological maltreatment played a mediating role between parental childhood psychological maltreatment and adolescent depressive symptoms.