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Older maternal age may be associated with greater depression, anxiety, stress in offspring

Recent findings show maternal age of 35 years and older was associated with increased symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress among young adult female offspring.

“To our knowledge, there are no studies that examine the incidence of symptoms of depression and anxiety (as opposed to diagnosis with a major depressive or anxious disorder) as a function of parental age in young adults. Furthermore, parental age has not been examined in relation to stress in offspring as far as we are aware,” Jessica E. Tearne, MPsych, PhD, of the University of Western Australia, and colleagues wrote. “Investigation of these issues is important because it is recognized that mental health issues may not always be limited to those who meet criteria for a psychiatric diagnosis.”

To determine associations between parental age and incidence of mood disorder symptoms in offspring, researchers analyzed data from the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study for 2,900 pregnancies resulting in 2,868 children. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21) was completed by 1,220 participants at 20-year follow-up.

In final multivariate analysis, maternal age of 30 to 34 years was associated with significant increases in DASS-21 scores for stress among female children compared with female children of mothers aged 25 to 29 years.

Maternal age of 35 years and older was associated with increased scores on all DASS-21 scales among female offspring.

“We found that a maternal age of 30 to 34 years was associated with significant increases in total DASS-21 scores in female offspring, and a maternal age of 35 years and over was associated with significant increases in total and subscale DASS-21 scores. Paternal age was not found to be associated with offspring depression, anxiety, and stress,” Tearne and colleagues wrote. “It appears that when examining a broad spectrum of psychological adjustment, the relationships between parental age and offspring symptomatology differ from those in the literature on parental age and severe psychiatric outcomes. We suggest that maternal age when the young adult is assessed may be as important as considering age at pregnancy.” – by Amanda Oldt

Disclosure: Please see the full study for a list of all authors’ relevant financial disclosures.