Aims: The objective of the present paper was to assess associations between current and remitted parental mood disorder episodes and parenting attitudes, as reported by both parents and their offspring.
Background:
Methods: In a family study on mood disorders, we collected clinical information on treated probands and their children. The sample included 33 bipolar, 27 unipolar depressive, and 28 control probands as well as their 122 9 to 17 year-old children. Diagnostic assignment was based on a best estimate procedure including semi-structured interviews, medical records and family history information. The proband's parenting attitudes were measured using the Parental Bonding Instrument. Analyses were based on multiple regression models with adjustment for sex and age.
Results: Compared to controls, remitted bipolars provided lower Care towards the child, according to parent and offspring report. This was even more pronounced when remission followed a manic rather than a depressive episode. Moreover, currently depressed bipolars described themselves as providing more Encouragement of Freedom compared to controls. In contrast, currently depressed unipolars did not differ from controls in their description of their parenting attitudes. However, they were described by their children as providing decreased levels of Denial of Autonomy and increased levels of Encouragement of Freedom.
Conclusion: Our data support parental attitudes of bipolars that differ more from those of controls in remission, as compared to current depressive states. In contrast, unipolar depressives may reveal parenting attitudes that differ more from those of controls during current depression than in remission.