Parental depression is among the most consistent risk factors for childhood anxiety and disruptive behavior disorders and for major depression, with more than a two- to three-fold increased risk in offspring of depressed parents compared with controls.

Achieving remission of depression within three months of treatment reduces the likelihood that a mother's depression will influence her children to develop mood disorders, disruptive behavior patterns or other psychiatric problems, according to a study published in JAMA. The children of mothers who remain depressed are more likely to have these types of problems.

Lead author Myrna M. Weissman, PhD, of Columbia University Medical Center and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, presented the findings of the study Tuesday at a JAMA media briefing on women