Given the high rates of co-occurring symptoms of anxiety and depression in parents with a history of depression and their offspring (Goodman et al. 2011; Sellers et al. 2013), this population offers an opportunity to study correlates of these symptoms. Offspring of depressed parents are at significantly greater risk for developing depression and other internalizing problems, including anxiety, than children of non-depressed parents (Goodman et al. 2011). Research suggests that parental internalizing psychopathology may be a non-specific correlate of symptoms in their offspring (Starr et al. 2014). However, a number of factors associated with parental depression may or may not act as transdiagnostic correlates of symptoms in youth.
