RE-PAIR: the relation between parent-adolescent interactions and depressive symptoms in adolescents

Depression rates sharply increase during adolescence. Negative parent-child
interactions are proposed to be an important risk factor in the development and
maintenance of depressive symptoms in youth. To date, details about the role of
negative parent-child interactions in the development of youth*s depressive
symptoms and the impact on the adolescent brain are lacking. This underlines
the importance to study the potentially bi-directional interplay between
adolescent depression and parent-child interactions. As indicators of negative
parent-child interactions we will specifically focus on parental criticism,
lack of empathy and support.

The primary purpose of this study is to determine how excessive parental
criticism and lack of empathy affects the emotional and neural development
during adolescence and whether there are bidirectional influences between
parent-child interactions and depressive symptoms in youth. The bidirectional
relationship between negative parent-child interactions and adolescent
depressive symptoms will be studied in adolescents with and without MDD and
their parents, by using an intergenerational, multi-method approach. This
approach will yield valuable new information on this topic and will be very
useful to identify key targets for interventions that will focus on the
improvement of parent-child interactions and the diminishment of depressive
symptoms in youth. In addition, we will study whether particular factors (i.e.
parent-adolescent interactions, but also treatment) have a predictive value for
the course of complaints and the depressive symptoms of the adolescents.

The present observational study will recruit adolescents and their both
parents. The depressive adolescents will be recruited via practitioners in the
clinical setting, via the GGD and via an interview in the local media. The
healthy adolescents will be recruited via schools, public areas and social
media. They will visit the lab for one day, during which they will participate
in several interaction-tasks between adolescents and their parents.
Additionally, participants will be asked to fill out electronic diaries for a
period of 14 consecutive days about their mood and the quality of social
interactions and a part of the adolescents and parents will be invited to
undergo an MRI scan. After half a year, a year and two years participants will
be approached to completed a few additional questionnaires.

After signing the informed consent, adolescents and both their parents will
visit the lab for one day. Most of the tasks and questionnaires do not burden
the participants at all and do not include any risks. The interaction-tasks
between family members are often experienced as very positive, as well as the
electronic diaries they have to fill out during the study. Parents and
adolescents will be asked to fill out a short questionnaire for at least 4
times a day, during fourteen consecutive days. This will take them
approximately 3 minutes per questionnaire. Besides, they will receive a lunch
during the lab visit, travel funds and a financial compensation. Part of the
adolescents and parents in the study will be invited to undergo an fMRI scan at
the LUMC. The duration of the scan session will be approximately 3 hours.
Although the loud noises of the scanner and the limited space in the scanner
might be unpleasant for the participants, there are no health risks involved by
this method. After half a year, a year and two years after the research day,
participants will be asked to fill in a few questionnaires again via a link on
their own computer. This component does not involve any risks.