Early depressogenic effects of receiving negative parenting on adult affective disturbance

Guided by a life course perspective, we examine the influence of experiencing negative parenting early in the parental home on individuals’ mental health through middle adulthood. The study is based on a three-wave longitudinal data set that spans nearly three decades. Multiple imputation is performed to retain the full sample of 7618 respondents. The data set contains contemporaneous reports of parenting received when most of the respondents (81%) were around age 12–13 (Time 1). It also contains the extent of their affective disturbance measured at three time points: around age 12–13 (Time 1), in their 20s (Time 2), and in their mid 30s to early 40s (Time 3). The results demonstrate that the apparent influence from early experiences of negative parenting on affective disturbance in the later life-cycle is largely mediated by the prior level of affective disturbance around age 12–13. The detrimental effect of early experiences of negative parenting on adult mental health may have taken place by late childhood or early adolescence.