Female Depression: Adverse Childhood and Adolescent Experiences and its relations with Depressive Triggers

Background: It is widely accepted that adversities during development may impact depression in adulthood, but its relations with current depression triggers are unclear. The present research aimed to explore the association between self-reported adverse childhood and adolescent experiences with self-reported depressive triggers, according to interpersonal classification, in depressed women. Methods: The sample consisted of 822 women with Depressive Disorders, who attended Psychotherapy at a Central Hospital in Lisbon (Portugal). Problems in childhood and adolescence and triggering factors were obtained through open-ended questions from a psychotherapy screening questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and Pearson's correlation coefficients were calculated. Results: The most commonly reported adversities in childhood and adolescence took place in the family context, namely and in order of frequency, family conflicts, relational difficulties between parents and children and family violence. Higher reports of significant problems at an early age were associated with higher reports across development. Higher reports of interpersonal disputes as depressive triggers were associated with higher reports of interpersonal disputes problems during childhood and adolescence. Conclusion: Interpersonal disputes seem a major precursor of depressive symptomatology in women later in life. The classification of childhood and adolescent problems and depression triggers according to interpersonal theory proved to be a consistent association criterion and allowed us to assess priority intervention areas in depressed patients, such as interpersonal disputes and role transitions. This study highlights the unmet needs of families, that could be a target for conflict management and interpersonal communication intervention programs early in parental-child relationships. This is an important contribute to the development of family-friendly public policies and action plans.