Never-depressed adolescent offspring of depressed and nondepressed parents: An ecological momentary assessment study of affective, interpersonal, and stressful experiences

Offspring of depressed parents are at increased risk for psychopathology. Although there is extensive research on the processes contributing to this elevated risk, little is known about how these processes are manifested in the daily lives of offspring of depressed parents. This study examines the association between parental history of depression and daily experiences in never-depressed older adolescents, utilizing ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to capture within-person variation in affect, social interactions, and stressful experiences. Two hundred eighty-nine 18-year-olds (41.9 % with parental history of depression) completed a two-week EMA protocol, where they received 5 surveys per day about current mood and recent social interactions and stressful events. We examined whether the two groups differed on affective dynamics (mean, inertia, and variability) and intraindividual associations between social interactions/stressful experiences and mood. The groups did not differ in affective dynamics. However, offspring of depressed parents had higher negative affect at their average level of both positive and negative social interactions and average level of stress unpleasantness. Additionally, offspring with parental depression had larger increases in their level of negative affect when they experienced higher levels of negative social interactions than usual. These findings highlight the importance of intensive longitudinal designs and within-person analyses in understanding how risk processes are manifested in the daily lives of offspring of depressed parents.