Identifying, Treating Mothers ’ Depression Could Positively Impact Children’s Neurodevelopment, Study Suggests

Children whose mothers experienced depression during and after pregnancy may be slower to hit early childhood developmental milestones than children whose mothers did not experience depression, suggests astudy published this week inDepression& Anxiety. The findings demonstrate the benefit that early recognition and treatment of maternal depression symptoms can have on both mothers and children.While previous studies have suggested symptoms of depression during and after pregnancy are associated with poorer neurodevelopmental outcomes in offspring, questions remain about whether such symptoms during pregnancy and postpartum as well as early childhood periods exert different, independent, or additive effects on child neurodevelopment.For the current study, Soile Tuovinen, Ph.D., of the University of Helsinki in Finland and colleagues examined maternal depression and child development data collected from women in Finland as part of the Prediction and Prevention of Pre-eclampsia and Intrauterine Growth Restriction (PREDO) study. A total of 2,231 mothers in the PREDO study completed the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale biweekly up to 14 times during pregnancy and twice up to 12 months after pregnancy. When the children were between 1.9 and 5.7 years old, the mothers completed the Beck Depression Inventory-II and filled out the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ), which asks caregivers to assess children ’s fine and gross motor, problem solving, communicati...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: Ages and Stages Questionnaire ASQ Beck Depression Inventory Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale childhood & Anxiety maternal depression pregnancy Soile Tuovinen Source Type: research