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Preschool Outcomes of Children of Depressed Mothers: Role of Maternal Behavior, Contextual Risk, and Children's Brain Activity
Author(s) -
Dawson Geraldine,
Ashman Sharon B.,
Panagiotides Heracles,
Hessl David,
Self Joanna,
Yamada Emily,
Embry Lara
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8624.00599
Subject(s) - psychology , depression (economics) , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , cognition , psychiatry , economics , macroeconomics
Children of depressed mothers are at risk for behavioral and emotional problems. Infants of depressed mothers exhibit behavioral disturbances and atypical frontal brain activity. The mechanisms by which children develop such vulnerabilities are not clear. Three‐year‐old children of mothers with ( N =65) and without ( N =59) a history of depression were assessed in terms of behavior problems and brain electrical activity. Children of mothers with chronic depression exhibited lower frontal and parietal brain activation compared with children of mothers without depression and those whose depression remitted. Depressed mothers reported higher contextual risk (e.g., marital discord and stress) and their children had more behavior problems. Children's frontal brain activation and contextual risk level mediated the relation between maternal depression and child behavior problems.