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Little is known about the effects of parental depression on offspring as they transition to adulthood—a challenging time developmentally, when late adolescents must separate from home, achieve intimate relationships, and develop a sense of identity. We present long-term quantitative and qualitative data from early adolescents with a depressed parent who were randomized to one of two family-based preventive interventions and followed over time, across the transition to young adulthood. Specifically, we present clinical measures of psychopathology and Likert-scale questionnaire data from young adults and their parents regarding the transition to adulthood and perceptions of the interventions. We also report in-depth qualitative interview data from young adults about the effects of parental depression on their transition to adulthood. Findings suggest that leaving home, establishing relationships, and coping with stressors may be challenging for emerging adults. Furthermore, the interviews highlight the importance of siblings, the burden of parental depression, and the development of self-understanding and empathy in young adults who grew up with a depressed parent. Data suggest that clinicians, policy makers, educators, and employers must address the preventive and clinical needs of young people and their families as they transition to young adulthood after growing up with depressed parents.

Approximately 20% of people will experience a depressive episode by adulthood, making adolescence an important developmental target for prevention. CATCH-IT (Competent Adulthood Transition with Cognitive-behavioral, Humanistic, and Interpersonal Training), an online depression prevention intervention, has demonstrated efficacy in preventing depressive episodes among adolescents reporting elevated symptoms. Our study examines the effects of CATCH-IT compared to online health education (HE) on internalizing symptoms in adolescents at risk for depression. Participants, ages 13&ndash, 18, were recruited across eight US health systems and were randomly assigned to CATCH-IT or HE. Assessments were completed at baseline, 2, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months. There were no significant differences between groups in change in depressive symptoms (b = &minus, 0.31 for CATCH-IT, b = &minus, 0.27 for HE, p = 0.80) or anxiety (b = &minus, 0.13 for CATCH-IT, b = &minus, 0.11 for HE, p = 0.79). Improvement in depressive symptoms was statistically significant (p &lt, 0.05) for both groups (p = 0.004 for CATCH-IT, p = 0.009 for HE), improvement in anxiety was significant for CATCH-IT (p = 0.04) but not HE (p = 0.07). Parental depression and positive relationships with primary care physicians (PRPC) moderated the anxiety findings, and adolescents&rsquo, externalizing symptoms and PRPC moderated the depression findings. This study demonstrates the long-term positive effects of both online programs on depressive symptoms and suggests that CATCH-IT demonstrates cross-over effects for anxiety as well.