Özet:

Depressive disorders in children and adolescents are caused by various risk factors. It is believed that the mood and temperament characteristics of the parent play a pretty decisive role on the relationship between the child, adolescent and their parents. The aim of this study is to examine the frequency of depression and temperament in parents of children and adolescents with major depression diagnosis. Parents of 102 children and adolescents between the ages of 7-18 with major depressive disorder were included in the study. Child Depression Inventory (CDI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), socio-demographic data form, and Temperament Assessment Scale (TEMPS-A) were applied to the children, adolescents and parents respectively. 86 (84.3%) mothers and 16 (15.7%) fathers were included in the study. Of the children and adolescents, 76 (74.5%) were girls and 26 (25.5%) were boys. The mean age of children and adolescents was found to be 14.3±2.3 years. The mean age of parents was found to be 40.3±6.16 years. In all cases, the number of patients with depression in their parents was 55 (53.9%). Depression scale scores were higher in the children of depressed parents (p=.000). Significant positive correlation was found between CDI scores of children and BDI scores of parents and between BDI scores adolescent and BDI scores of parents (consecutively r= 0.700, p= 0.000; r= 0.663, p<0.000). When the BDI score of the adolescents and the parental temperament scores was examined by simple linear regression, the depressive temperament of the parent was found to be effective on the depressive scale score of the adolescents (r2=0.445, p=0.000). Depression is common in parents of children and adolescents with depression. Parental temperament, especially depressive temperament, is effective on child depression. This may be related to the genetic nature of the temperament and the fact that it causes domestic problems. In child and adolescent depression, it is recommended to examine the presence of depression in the parent and to pay attention to the characteristics associated with mood temperament.

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