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Depressive symptoms in school-aged children vary with maternal depression levels (NEJM JW Psychiatry May 3 2006). However, little has been known about whether depressive symptoms in pregnant women alter their children's brain development and behaviors. These researchers analyzed data from 81 pregnant women with no psychiatric history and their children.
The mothers reported previous-week depressive symptoms at gestational weeks 19, 25, and 31 on the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). At ages 6 to 9 years, the children underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging, and mothers completed an inventory on their own depressive symptoms and a checklist on their children's depressive symptoms and conduct behaviors.
Cortic…