Pregnancy blues can harm boys’ behaviour
DePReSSIOn during pregnancy can lead to increased aggression and hyperactivity in boys, a study has revealed.
Up to a fifth of mothers-to-be experience symptoms such as difficulty sleeping and tearfulness, as well as feeling sad and low.
This can have an impact on the foetus by affecting the formation of networks in their brain, research shows. These connections, between parts of the brain called white matter, influence how we process emotion.
Weaker connections were associated with poorer behaviour in boys.
Scientists from the University of Calgary in Canada studied 54 mothers taking part in a survey about their depression symptoms at several points during their pregnancy.
They then used diffusion MRI – an imaging technique which reveals connections between brain regions – to examine their children’s white matter when they were four and carried out behavioural tests. Women who experienced more depression symptoms during pregnancy were found to have children with weaker white matter connections in their amygdala – the part of the brain involved in emotional processing.
This, the scientists say, could lead to disrupted emotional states – and may explain why the children of depressed mothers have a higher risk of developing depression themselves.
The study, published in the Journal of neuroscience, says: ‘Prenatal
depression is common, underrecognised and under-treated. It has negative consequences on child behaviour and brain development. Weaker connectivity [in the part of the brain which controls emotion] was associated with worse behaviour in boys.
‘ It may be underlying brain vulnerability in males that predisposes them to behaviour problems.’
Dr Catherine Lebel, lead author of the study, admits scientists don’t know why depression in a mother can affect their child’s brain network, but suggests it could be related to increased stress hormones or even nutrition.
elizabeth Duff of the national Childbirth Trust said: ‘although it is worrying to read of children being impacted by their mother’s depression, recognition and treatment of the illness can improve outcomes.’