The relationships between severity, chronicity, and timing of maternal depressive symptoms and child outcomes were examined in a cohort of 4,953 children. Mothers provided selfreports of depressive symptoms during pregnancy, immediately postpartum, and when the child was 6 months old and 5 years old. At the age 5 follow-up, mothers reported on children's behavior and children completed a receptive vocabulary test. Results suggest that both the severity and the chronicity of maternal depressive symptoms are related to more behavior problems and lower vocabulary scores in children. The interaction of severity and chronicity of maternal depressive symptoms was significantly related to higher levels of child behavior problems. Timing of maternal symptoms was not significantly related to child vocabulary scores, but more recent reports of maternal depressive symptoms were associated with higher rates of child behavior problems.Many studies have documented the association between maternal depression and adverse outcomes in children. Studies with clinical samples of depressed parents, focused primarily on mothers, have shown elevated rates of depression in children as well as anxiety and disruptive behavior disorders (reviewed in Downey & Coyne, 1990;Hammen, 1999). Studies with community samples of women with self-reported symptoms of depression have also shown adverse outcomes in children. These latter studies included infants, toddlers, and children of varying ages, and virtually all measures of the children's affect and behaviors showed evidence of maladaptive reactions to their mothers' dysphoria (reviewed in Downey & Coyne;Gelfand & Teti, 1990).The consistency of detrimental effects across numerous samples and methodologies has doubtless suggested that maternal depressive symptoms invariably have a negative impact on children's behavior. However, most of the studies have been cross-sectional in design, and they provide little information about the nature of maternal depression and how often it leads to problems for children. Depression is extremely heterogeneous in its manifestations, ranging from mild and transitory mood distress that is entirely normal to persisting and severe

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An interpersonal stress model of depression transmission was tested in a community sample of nearly 800 depressed and never-depressed women and their 15-year-old children. It was hypothesized that maternal depression (and depression in the maternal grandmother) contributed to chronic interpersonal stress in the mothers, affecting quality of parenting and youths' social competence. In turn, poor social functioning and interpersonal life events caused at least in part by the youths were predicted to be the proximal predictors of current depressive symptoms and diagnoses. Structural equation modeling confirmed the predicted associations among variables and the link between youth chronic and episodic interpersonal stress and depression. Additionally, the association between maternal and child depression was entirely mediated by the predicted family and interpersonal stress effects.

BackgroundGestational age is often used as a proxy for developmental maturity by clinicians and researchers alike. DNA methylation has previously been shown to be associated with age and has been used to accurately estimate chronological age in children and adults. In the current study, we examine whether DNA methylation in cord blood can be used to estimate gestational age at birth.ResultsWe find that gestational age can be accurately estimated from DNA methylation of neonatal cord blood and blood spot samples. We calculate a DNA methylation gestational age using 148 CpG sites selected through elastic net regression in six training datasets. We evaluate predictive accuracy in nine testing datasets and find that the accuracy of the DNA methylation gestational age is consistent with that of gestational age estimates based on established methods, such as ultrasound. We also find that an increased DNA methylation gestational age relative to clinical gestational age is associated with birthweight independent of gestational age, sex, and ancestry.ConclusionsDNA methylation can be used to accurately estimate gestational age at or near birth and may provide additional information relevant to developmental stage. Further studies of this predictor are warranted to determine its utility in clinical settings and for research purposes. When clinical estimates are available this measure may increase accuracy in the testing of hypotheses related to developmental age and other early life circumstances.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13059-016-1068-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Even relatively brief maternal major depression, but more prolonged mild depression, predicted children's risk for depressive disorders by age 15 years in a community sample. Nondepressive outcomes were more complex to predict, which was due in part to difficulty dating disorder onset in relation to maternal depression. Exposure to maternal depression at any period in the first 10 years equally predicted youth depression if the mother was depressed only once. Further studies are needed to shed light on the mechanisms by which maternal depression has its effects.