Maternal depression across the first years of life impacts children's neural basis of empathy

(Elsevier) Since 15-18 percent of women in industrial societies and up to 30 percent in developing countries suffer from maternal depression, it is of clinical and public health concern to understand the effects of maternal depression on children's development. A study published in the January 2017 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP) followed children of mothers with depression from birth to preadolescence and tested depression's impact on children's neural empathic response to others' distress.

from EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science http://ift.tt/2iLhlLI