Subsequently, using a larger community sample (N = 543), Olino et al. (2010) found that preschool-aged children of parents with a history of depression had higher levels of NE and BI. However, both main effects were qualified by interactions with child PE. At high and moderate (but not low) levels of child PE, higher levels of NE and BI were each associated with higher rates of parental depression. Conversely, at low (but not high and moderate) levels of child NE, low PE was associated with higher rates of parental depression. Taken together, these results suggest that children of depressed parents may exhibit diminished PE or elevated NE and BI. In this latter sample, low PE was also associated with elevated levels of cortisol shortly after awakening, an index of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysregulation that has been shown to predict MDD in adolescents and adults (Dougherty et al. 2009).
