Distinguishing family-level and child-level influences on the development of depression and aggression in children at risk

This study examined family-level and child-level influences on diversity in depression and aggression among children at risk. Data were from 144 children aged 7–14 years. A procedure introduced by Lavori, Keller, Beardslee, and Dorer (1988) was used to correct for the inclusion of more than one child from each family. Family-level influences examined were maltreatment and parental psychopathology. Maladjustment was highest in children of psychiatrically ill parents from maltreating homes and lowest in children of psychiatrically ill parents from nonmaltreating homes. Child-level influences examined were social cognition, intelligence, early developmental difficulties, sex, and age. Independent of family risk status, younger male children with high social-cognitive skills and no early developmental difficulties were least depressed. Child characteristics were less predictive of aggression. Overall, this study shows that efforts to explain diversity in high-risk children's development benefit from attending to all the offspring of high-risk parents and to multiple interacting family risk factors.