If you have siblings, you are likely to have had the ongoing debate about who is mom’s favorite. But according to a new study, winning that title is not necessarily a good thing; it may increase the risk for depression.

Share on Pinterest Adult children who felt they were emotionally closer to their mother than their siblings were more likely to show signs of depression.

Study coauthor Jill Suitor, a professor of sociology at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN, and colleagues publish their findings in the Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences.

The study involved 725 adult children from 309 families who were a part of the Within-Family Differences Study – a longitudinal project that aims to gain a better understanding of the relationship between parents and their adult children.

Mothers in each family were aged between 65-75 in 2001 when the study began, and data on children’s perceptions of favoritism and disfavoritism from mothers were assessed 7 years apart.

Specifically, the researchers looked at data on four measures of favoritism and disfavoritism: children’s perception of emotional closeness with their mother, their perception of conflict, their perception of pride from their mother, and their perception of disappointment. The team also assessed depressive symptoms among the children.