The results of a large study do not support the notion that prenatal and postpartum maternal depression is particularly detrimental to children’s psychological development.
The results of a large study do not support the notion that prenatal and postpartum maternal depression is particularly detrimental to children’s psychological development. Instead, the most robust effects were found for maternal depression occurring during children’s preschool years.
The analysis examined 11,599 families including 17,830 siblings from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort study. Using sibling comparisons, investigators accounted for genetic and shared environmental factors, as siblings share family environments and their mothers’ genetic risk for depression.
After taking familial factors into account, the researchers found that only concurrent maternal depressive symptoms had an effect on emotional and behavioral problems in preschool-aged children.
“We found that children of mothers who were depressed before and after birth had more mental health problems because they share risk genes with their mother; however, spending time with a depressed mother in the preschool years can be harmful to the child’s mental health,” said Dr. Line C. Gjerde, lead author of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry study. “It is therefore important to reach these mothers as early as possible, and provide treatment.”
Additional Information
Link to study: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1111/jcpp.12704/full
About Journal
The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (JCPP) is widely recognised to be the leading international journal covering both child and adolescent psychology and psychiatry. JCPP publishes the highest quality clinically relevant research in psychology, psychiatry and related disciplines. With a large and expanding global readership, its coverage includes studies on epidemiology, diagnosis, psychotherapeutic and psychopharmacological treatments, behaviour, cognition, neuroscience, neurobiology and genetic aspects of childhood disorders. Articles published include experimental, longitudinal and intervention studies, especially those that advance our understanding of developmental psychopathology and that inform both theory and clinical practice.
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