Washington (US): UCLA psychology researchers and colleagues have reported that children whose mothers experience rising levels of depression from the period before pregnancy until the months just after giving birth are at greater risk of developing emotional, social and academic problems during their youth.
Their recently published seven-year study, which tracked mothers and their offspring from preconception until the children were 5 years old, is the first to demonstrate how changes in mothers' level of depression over time may impact early childhood behaviour and emotional well-being, authors said. The findings are published in the Journal of Affective Disorders.
