BACKGROUND It is well-established that offspring of depressed mothers are at increased risk for suicidal ideation. However, pathways involved in the transmission of risk for suicidal ideation from depressed mothers to offspring are poorly understood. The aim of this study was to examine the contribution of potential mediators of this association, including maternal suicide attempt, offspring ps...

The effects of antenatal depression and antidepressant treatment during pregnancy on both mother and child are vigorously studied, but the underlying biology for these effects is largely unknown. The placenta plays a crucial role in the growth and development of the fetus. We performed a gene expression study on the fetal side of the placenta to investigate gene expression patterns in mothers w...

OBJECTIVES Perinatal depression has been found to be a strong and independent risk factor for poor child growth and development in low-income South Asian populations. The authors aimed to study if there was a similar association in first and second-generation British women of Pakistani origin. DESIGN A prospective cohort study. SETTING The study was conducted in the North-West of England, i...

Prenatal mood and biochemistry levels were assessed in women with (N = 70) and without (N = 70) depressive symptoms during their second trimester of pregnancy. At the neonatal period maternal and neonatal biochemistry, EEG and vagal tone levels were assessed, neonatal behavioral states were observed and the Brazelton neurobehavioral assessment was conducted. The mothers with depressive symptoms...

Having a depressed mother is one of the strongest predictors for developing depression in adolescence. Given the role of aberrant reward processing in the onset and maintenance of depression, we examined the association between mothers' and their daughters' neural response to the anticipation of reward and loss. Fifteen non-depressed mothers with a history of recurrent depression and their neve...

Depressed mothers show negatively biased responses to their infants' emotional bids, perhaps due to faulty processing of infant cues. This study is the first to examine depression-related differences in mothers' neural response to their own infant's emotion faces, considering both effects of perinatal depression history and current depressive symptoms. Primiparous mothers (n = 22), half of whom...

Children of depressed mothers are at a higher risk of developing depression in their lifetime compared to children of nondepressed mothers. Based on the tripartite model of depression and anxiety, low positive affect is the core symptom of depression. The current study examined the affect pattern of children of depressed and nondepressed mothers in general and in response to stimuli. Participan...