Children exposed to maternal depression respond like those under chronic stress.A mother’s depression may have long-term effects on her child’s immune system and psychological health.
Israeli researchers followed 125 babies from birth through 10 years. About 43 percent of the mothers had a diagnosis of major depression, and the rest constituted a control group. The study is in Depression & Anxiety.
The investigators tested the children’s and mothers’ saliva for cortisol, the stress hormone, as well as for an antibody called secretory immunoglobulin A, or SIgA, high levels of which indicate activation of the immune system. They also visited the families to assess the mother’s emotional health and to observe behavioral problems in children.
Compared to controls, depressed mothers had higher cortisol and SIgA levels and tended to exhibit more intrusive and insensitive behaviors toward their children.
Children of the depressed mothers had higher levels of SIgA, tended to be more withdrawn and had higher rates of psychiatric symptoms.
The senior author, Ruth Feldman, a professor of developmental neuroscience at the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, said that maternal depression may affect the child in various ways. “Children exposed to maternal major depression respond like those under chronic stress,” she said. Depression also increases maternal stress, which impacts a child’s stress levels. And insensitive behaviors by a mother may increase a child’s social withdrawal, which increases the risk for psychiatric disorders.