Discrepancy in the reports on life events between parents and their depressed/anxious children leads to severer psychopathology and lower responsiveness to SSRI treatment

Introduction: Exposure to a range of stressful life events (SLE) is implicated in youth psychopathology. Discrepancy between parents’/children’s’ reports (especially regarding SLE) is a major concern in child psychiatry. This study was designed to assess parent–youth discrepancies regarding SLE and its association with severity of psychopathology at baseline and response to treatment. Additionally, we assessed the association between three plasma pro-inflammatory cytokine levels and SLE. Methods: : SLE were assessed in children/adolescents suffering from depressive/anxiety disorders using the life events checklist (LEC), a self-report questionnaire measuring the impact of negative life events (NLE) and positive life events (PLE), as reported by the children and their parents. Severity of depression/anxiety disorders and response to antidepressant treatment were evaluated and correlated with both measures of LEC. We also corelated SLE with levels of three pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1β). Results: : Participants were 96 parent-child dyads (39 boys, 57 girls) aged 6-18 (mean=13.90, SD=2.41y). Parents reported higher severity of NLE than their children. Discrepancy in PLE was associated with more severe psychopathology and reduced response to treatment. No association with cytokine levels was found. Discussion: Discrepancy in informant reports regarding life events in depressed/anxious youth, especially regarding PLE, is associated with more severe psychopathology and reduced response to pharmacotherapy. It is important to increase congruency regarding SLE between parents and children to improve response to treatment.