The current study examined the most prevalent psychological problems during emerging adulthood (i.e., depressive, anxious, and antisocial problems) in parents and emerging adults and sought to contribute to the literature by examining how parental comorbidities within and between parents interacted to predict emerging adult psychological problems across gender. Generally, perceived parental problems were found to significantly predict the same type of problems in emerging adults. Women and men reported similar levels of perceived maternal and paternal depressive, anxiety, and antisocial problems and reported similar levels of depressive problems. Despite the similar levels of parental psychopathology, women reported significantly higher anxiety problems, and men reported significantly higher antisocial problems, which is consistent with previous findings [17, 2].
Main Effects
It was hypothesized that parental psychopathology would be associated positively with emerging adult psychopathology (hypothesis 1) and that the effects would differ as a function of parent and child gender (hypothesis 3).
Results show that parental psychopathology was positively associated with psychopathology in emerging adults, supporting hypothesis 1. Depressive problems in both women and men emerging adults were most strongly associated with maternal depression. Depressive problems in women also were associated with paternal depression and maternal anxiety, and men’s depressive problems were associated with paternal antisocial behavior. The effects of maternal depression on children have been widely noted. For example, Pilowsky et al. [26] found that 34% of children of severely depressed mothers had a psychiatric condition, including disruptive behavior, anxiety, and depressive conditions. Atypical depressive features in mothers increased the risk of a child having a depressive or anxiety disorder by three times. It is reasonable to assume that children of mothers who are depressed may acquire depressive features through several routes (e.g., observational learning or modeling, through a failure to learn effective coping strategies, genetics). Gotlib et al. [27] found that maternal depression was a predictor of depression onset in children due to the mother experiencing difficulties in interpersonal relationships, abnormal stress reactions, and attenuated reward or approach related functioning. Consequent complications, such as marital discord, further affected the child’s environment. Thus, it is not surprising to see these associations during emerging adulthood [22].
The association between men’s depressive symptoms and paternal antisocial problems was unexpected based on findings by LeMoine et al. [28], who found that paternal antisocial behavior was related to externalizing behaviors in their children. Perhaps depressive problems arising in men with paternal antisocial behavior results from living in an environment where the absence of or frequent violation of rules creates unpredictability, leading to a sense of lack of control and associated depression. It also has been found that emerging adult development could be strained if harsh parental treatment is present [29].
Anxiety problems in women and men were associated only with maternal and paternal anxiety problems. This finding was not unexpected, as parental overprotection and modeling of fearful behaviors have been theorized to weigh heavily in the development of anxiety [30]. Fathers’ anxious parenting, over involvement, and overprotection also have been found to predict increased child anxiety, even after accounting for the mother’s anxiety and anxious parenting behaviors [31]. Fisher [32] also reported an increased risk for children to develop psychopathology across the lifespan due to paternal anxiety symptoms. It is interesting to hypothesize that growing up in an environment where there is a looming sense that something bad might happen would lead to fear, and the anxious parents’ avoidance behavior and anxiety would deprive children of the opportunity to observe and learn effective problem-solving skills. Women demonstrated a stronger association between maternal and emerging adult anxiety problems, possibly due to mother-daughter co-rumination. Although literature on co-rumination between mothers and emerging adult daughters is sparse, past literature has found this to be present in adolescent daughters. Waller and Rose [33] found that daughters were more likely be exposed to rumination from their mother, which can lead to anxiety and depression. This finding also could be related to the fact that men report fewer internalizing problems than women [17].
Women’s and men’s antisocial problems were associated with maternal and paternal antisocial problems. This finding is consistent with LeMoine et al. [28] who found that paternal antisocial personality disorder was strongly associated with child conduct problems through paternal negative parenting. Less research has examined the effects of maternal antisocial behavior on children, perhaps related to the lower prevalence of antisocial behavior in women. Ehrensaft et al. [34] found that maternal conduct problems contributed to the worsening of boys’ behavior problems, but not as much as parenting behaviors. If surrounded by parental antisocial behavior, it is easy to imagine how emerging adults may not have learned appropriate ways of behaving, which could lead to maladaptive or antisocial behaviors.
Men’s antisocial problems also were associated with maternal depressive problems. These antisocial problems associated with maternal depressive symptoms may arise from the lack of an involved (e.g., emotionally absent) mother to teach prosocial behaviors or be related to acting out to get attention from their mothers who are depressed. Maternal depression seems likely to lead to the development of antisocial behavior in children through impairment of the child rearing environment, a tendency for depressed women to have comorbid antisocial traits and have children with men who are antisocial, and through genetics [35].
Interaction Effects
It was hypothesized that comorbid parental psychopathology (i.e., being rated as high in two problem scales), both within and between parents, would be associated with higher emerging adult psychopathology relative to non-comorbid parental psychopathology (hypothesis 2) and that the effects would differ as a function of parent and child gender (hypothesis 3).
Emerging Adult Depressive and Anxiety Problems
As expected, low combinations of parental problems resulted in the lowest levels of depressive problems in women and men except for men’s depressive problems being associated with low levels of maternal anxiety and antisocial problems. Conversely, high maternal depression in combination with either high or low maternal antisocial behavior was associated with high levels of depressive problems in women. The degree of depression in mothers seems to be more important than the degree of antisocial behavior in mothers when examining depression in emerging adult women. Although maternal depression is often comorbid with other conditions, relatively few studies have examined the role these comorbid conditions have in increasing risk for child psychopathology.
High perceived anxiety and antisocial problems in mothers were associated with the highest depressive and anxiety problems in men. Aside from impairments to parenting arising from these comorbid conditions, it appears that depression and anxiety may develop from the tendency of antisocial behaviors to create a distressing cycle where problems are anticipated or seen as inevitable. It is plausible that mothers rated high in anxiety also are rated high in antisocial behavior as a function of their anxiety. Specifically, there may be mothers with anxiety who react harshly to their children related to their own fears and need to provide overprotection to their children (e.g., yelling at their children to protect them from a perceived threat).
Interestingly, women and men reported only moderate depressive problems when indicating high scores for both maternal antisocial and paternal anxiety problems, whereas being high in one parental problem and low in the other resulted in higher depressive problems. Paternal anxiety may have a moderating effect on depression if it leads to taking action to reduce maternal antisocial behavior. That is, fathers who are anxiously fearing bad consequences may be motivated to ameliorate maternal antisocial behavior (e.g., help console the child), if not confront it. In the absence of maternal antisocial behavior, high paternal anxiety may manifest in impaired parenting. Alternatively, fathers’ higher anxiety could be a result of maternal antisocial behavior (e.g., fathers anxious about retribution or aggression from their partners).
The lowest anxiety problems were reported by emerging adults when maternal and paternal anxiety problems were low. This expected finding is consistent with an environment in which bad things are not generally anticipated, or one in which problems are confronted without strict control.
Emerging Adult Antisocial Problems
Women reported the highest antisocial problems when indicating high paternal depressive problems and high maternal antisocial problems. This may be related to paternal depression limiting confrontation of maternal antisocial behavior by fathers, or it may be related to fathers’ defective involvement in daughters’ lives. Men reported the highest antisocial problems when indicating high maternal anxiety and antisocial problems. Maternal anxiety is infrequently studied apart from depression, and the two are often found to be highly correlated. Serbin and Karp [36] revealed that the combination of maternal depression and antisocial personality disorder symptoms effected the presentation of conduct disorder in children. The environments of children whose mothers are both depressed and antisocial are prone to be highly stressful and disorganized. Capaldi [37] found that youth whose mothers were arrested as adults were at risk to be arrested two or more times during adolescence. Ehrensaft et al. [34] found that the presence of conduct disorder in mothers worsened boys' behavior problems, although the effect of parenting was of greater importance. It is likely that the combination of maternal anxiety and antisocial problems would have even more significant effects on parenting. Perhaps if maternal antisocial behavior is driven by efforts to reduce anxiety, antisocial behavior becomes a modeled coping strategy. Men also indicated high antisocial problems when reporting high maternal antisocial problems and low paternal anxiety problems, suggesting that the absence of anxiety in fathers may allow maternal antisocial behavior to operate unchecked.
Implications and Limitations
The current study found evidence that parental psychopathology, both within and between parents, has effects on psychopathology in emerging adults. In general, parental psychopathology is associated with the same psychopathology in offspring. Research suggests that these effects are generally brought about through impaired parenting skills demonstrated by parents with psychopathology. Results suggest that psychopathology across parents may increase psychopathology in children, but some combinations may moderate effects.
The findings suggest implications for assessment and treatment of emerging adults and parents. Because parental psychopathology is strongly associated with problems in emerging adults, it is suggested that clinicians assess the entire family in treatment. Interventions may address parental psychopathology to help or prevent psychopathology in offspring. Psychoeducational interventions with parents to encourage adherence to treatment and inform them of the impact their conditions may have on their children may be useful.
Regarding limitations, the sample characteristics were limited to college students at a large southern university and were largely women, White, and from intact families. The self-report nature of the study and the instruments used open the results to limitations inherent in those methods (e.g., shared method bias, individuals with depression reporting more negatively). Cross-sectional data also prevent interpretation of causality; for example, distressed children can worsen parental psychopathology.
There appears to be gaps in the literature which, if addressed, may add clarity to the findings. The relationship between maternal antisocial behavior and psychopathology in emerging adults appears to have received little attention. Additionally, studies have frequently examined maternal anxiety and depression together, possibly because they are highly correlated, and the effect of maternal anxiety in isolation seems to have received less focus; however, it seems reasonable to hypothesize that the impact of maternal anxiety on children is also passed on through impaired parenting (e.g., controlling, overprotection, threat biases). The impact of paternal psychopathology on child development appears to have received less attention than the impact of maternal psychopathology, despite its importance. Wilson and Durbin [38] for example, found familial transmission of depression is at least in part related to depressed fathers demonstrating decreased positive and increased negative parenting behaviors. The association of paternal psychopathology with other psychopathologies in emerging adults offers numerous avenues to explore. The study of comorbid conditions both within and across parents appears to offer a rich area for further attention. It is hoped that future research will address these issues utilizing a variety of methods (e.g., longitudinal), multiple informants (e.g., parents, children, observers), and multiple methods (e.g., rating scales, interviewing).