The Role of Personality Disorder and Parental Lifestyle on Mood Disorders in Children and Adolescents

This study investigates the prediction of mood disorders in children and adolescents by parental personality disorder and parenting lifestyle.

The present study was a cross-sectional study and, the sampling method was a multistage cluster. The statistical population was children and adolescents aged 6-18 years in Yazd province. Our sample included 1035 children and adolescents who were selected from all three age groups (6-9 years, 10-14 years, and 15-18 years) and their parents. Kiddie-SADS-Present and Lifetime Version, demographic data (gender, age, education, parent education, and economic situation), information on lifestyle (LSQ), and parents' personality disorders (MCMI-III) questionnaires were used to obtain data. Logistic regression and cross-tab tests were used to analyze the data in SPSS16. 

According to the obtained results, Drug avoidance (β=-0.086, p= 0.016), can predict mood disorders, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (β= 0.101, p= 0.014) in mothers and dependent personality disorder (β= 0.081, p= 0.023) in fathers can predict mood disorders in children and adolescents.

Lifestyle is associated with physical and mental health, in children and adolescents, which can affect their mood. In addition, the mental health of parents is a major factor in the mental health of children and adolescents that predicts their mood.