Depression’s Links to Childhood Studied : Mental health: Researchers found the highest rates of adult depression among those who grew up in a family touched by violence, mental illness or divorce.

DETROIT — Children whose parents divorced are more likely to suffer from depression when they grow up than those whose parents died, a new study found.

Researchers at the University of Michigan surveyed 2,867 people nationwide, age 25 and older, and found the highest rates of adult depression were among those who grew up in a family touched by violence, mental illness or divorce.

Sociology Professor Ronald C. Kessler said that his results were surprising because previous research had indicated that a parent’s death was the most traumatic childhood event.

Kessler said his study found that the death of a mother led to high rates of depression among young people but seemed not to have a lasting effect.

“It seems that if you can escape intact when you’re a teen-ager, you’re home free,” he said.

Kessler and fellow researcher William J. Magee looked at the relationship between depression and various types of childhood trauma.

The study is to appear in Psychological Medicine, a British quarterly. The magazine said no publication date has been set.

When compared to the general population, the likelihood of adult depression was:

* 2.6 times greater for people raised in violent families.

* 2 times for people raised in families with mental illness.

* 1.7 times for people from divorced families.

* 1.6 times for those from families with serious parental marital problems.

* 1.4 times for those from families with serious drinking problems.

The researchers said people whose parents died when they were children were no more likely to suffer from adult depression than the average person.

Dr. Helen Friedman, an adult trauma specialist at St. Anthony’s Psychiatric Center in St. Louis, said she was surprised by the finding about the role of divorce in adult depression.

Other studies have linked parental divorce with depression among children and young adults, she said, but not people over age 25.

Kessler said he is trying to clarify the childhood risk factors for depression in a follow-up study.

His research measured depression by asking the respondents if they had ever had a period of a week or more in which they felt sad, blue or depressed. About 42% of those surveyed answered yes to the question.

Prof. Michael Nash at the University of Tennessee, who studies the effects of child sexual abuse, said people’s childhood memories can be unreliable and are affected by such things as their present mental state.

“The next step I think is longitudinal studies with children over many years,” Nash said. “To learn about childhood depression, you need to study children.”