Jin Liuyin ¹ 冬冬 王 ² Dengxian Yang ^3* Qiong Jin ^3* Mengye Cao ^3* Yuanyuan Li ^3* Jiajie Yang ^3* Guoming Xie ^4* Wenwu Zhang ^3*

• ¹ Lishui Second People's Hospital, Lishui, Zhejiang, China
• ² Peking University Medical Zibo Hospital, Zibo, China
• ³ Ningbo Kangning Hospital, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China
• ⁴ Department of Neurology, Ningbo Medical Centre Li Huili Hospital, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China

This study examines the long-term effects of perceived caregiver anxiety and stress experienced during childhood on the incidence of depression in later life. Utilizing data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), we analyzed the relationship between adverse childhood experiences related to perceived caregiver anxiety and stress and the subsequent risk of developing depression in later years. Our findings indicate that individuals who perceived caregiver anxiety and stress during their formative years are at a significantly higher risk of suffering from depression in their later years. This association is particularly pronounced among those with female caregivers. Furthermore, the risk of late-life depression escalates proportionally with the frequency of caregiver anxiety and stress episodes. Although the influence of male caregivers' anxiety and stress diminishes after adjusting for covariates, it highlights the need for further investigation into the enduring mechanisms involved. These results underscore the critical importance of early interventions aimed at improving parental mental health, especially addressing anxiety and stress in female caregivers, to mitigate the risk of intergenerational transmission of mental health disorders. Future research should adopt longitudinal approaches to better elucidate the causal relationships between parental anxiety and offspring depression.