Daughters born from 30 years old and above mothers are more likely to have depressive symptoms when they reach young adulthood, based on a new study's findings.
In a study published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, researchers analyzed data from 1,200 participants who were asked to assess themselves based on the different symptoms of depression and anxiety. The data was then compared to the ages of the participants' mothers and fathers at the time they were born.
Based on the research done, daughters who were born to mothers at 30 to 34 years old had higher stress levels. While daughters of mothers over 35 had the highest levels of depression,stress and anxiety compared to daughters born to mothers under 30 years old.
"This study suggests that older maternal age is associated with symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress in young adult females," said Jessica Tearne, a doctoral student from the University of Western Australia and one of the authors of the study.
While the reason for these findings is not yet fully clear, experts believed that there may be two reasons for it. One of which is the large generational gap that may hinder more meaningful communication between mother and daughter.
Another theory is that older mothers may already be fraught with health problems by the time their daughters are born, which may then be a source of relationship strain as daughters tend to be more affected by their mothers' failing health than sons.
Other experts have also weighed in their opinions. Some agree to the assessment that the generation gap may be an important factor that can cause the relationship strain.
"Older mothers may have more difficulty understanding or relating to the world their teen daughters live in," Jill Weber, a clinical psychologist who was not involved with the study, explained.
However, Weber didn't agree completely with the study's other proposed theory, stating that it was hard to think that the mothers already had such health problems at that age.
"There may be a third variable contributing here," says Weber. "Perhaps the daughters of younger mothers also have distress but are not as comfortable reporting it."
