Harsh Parenting May Hardwire Depression Risk Into Kids' DNA, Study Says

Strict parenting may permanently embed the risk of depression into a child's DNA, according to a recent study.

Researchers from the University of Leuven in Belgium picked 44 children between 12 to 16 years old, with 21 coming from good parenting - having supportive parents who give them autonomy, and 23 coming from harsh parenting - with manipulative parents who practice excessive strictness and do physical punishment.

In the study, which has yet to be peer reviewed, two groups were compared, and it revealed that most of those who experienced harsh parenting showed "initial, subclinical signs of depression."

Moreover, when the researchers checked the range of methylation, a natural process that happens when a small chemical molecule is added to one's DNA that changes the way a body reads the instructions in the DNA, it was found that methylation significantly increased in children with harsh upbringing.

Increase in DNA methylation

In the ECNP Congress in Vienna, Dr. Evelien Van Assche stated, "We discovered that perceived harsh parenting, with physical punishment and psychological manipulation, can introduce an additional set of instructions on how a gene is read to become hard-wired into DNA. We have some indications that these changes themselves can predispose the growing child to depression. This does not happen to the same extent if the children have had a supportive upbringing."

However, she added that though the study investigated the possible effects of harsh parenting, it is likely that any significant stress can lead to such an increase in DNA methylation. Childhood stresses can greatly build a "general tendency to depression" in a kid's later life by altering how their DNA is read. She also emphasized that there is a need to study further with a larger sample to confirm the results.

Dr. Van Assche also shared in the same media release that they based their approach to this study on prior research with identical twins as samples. One of the twins was diagnosed with major depression. Two independent groups of researchers found that the one diagnosed with depression also had a higher range of DNA methylation than the emotionally healthy twin.

She went on to say that right now; they are already trying to "close the loop" by linking it to a later depression diagnosis and using as a marker the increased methylation variation to know in advance who might be "at greater risk of developing depression as a result of their upbringing."

Read Also: Strict Parenting: Experts Say it Can Possibly Create Rebellious Children

Bad parenting leads to depression

Previous research has linked children's depression, anxiety, and aggression to their parent's harsh parenting, Study Finds reported.

Scientists claim that these children struggle to build emotional relationships when they are older and have difficulties with educational attainments.

Professor Christiaan Vinkers of Amsterdam University Medical Center emphasized that it is extremely crucial work to understand the mechanisms of how untoward childhood experiences have "life-long consequences" for a child's mental and physical health. There is a lot to gain if the risk can be fully understood and why there are varying effects of strict parenting.

The researchers concluded that the results of their study "fit in the growing evidence that chronic adversity, such as perceived bad parenting," is connected with the alteration of DNA methylation alteration.

Related Article: Why Strict Parenting Style Is Not The Best Way For Parents To Raise Children