Maternal stress and smoking may be risk factors for childhood depression

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-01-25 11:35

New Zealand

PHOTO: Pixabay

NZ researchers looked at data from almost 4000 Kiwi kids from the Growing Up in New Zealand study to see if maternal mental health and lifestyle factors could be linked to depression as their child grows older. They found that perceived stress, smoking during pregnancy, BMI in the overweight/obese range, and paracetamol intake had small but significant links to higher depressive symptoms for the child at age 8. The researchers say that other factors, like a genetic predisposition to stress and depression, may also influence a child’s development, but the results underscore the importance of mental health support throughout pregnancy.

Attachments

Note: Not all attachments are visible to the general public. Research URLs will go live after the embargo ends.

Research Elsevier, Web page

Journal/
conference: Journal of Affective Disorders

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: University of Auckland, A Better Start National Science Challenge

Funder: This study was funded by a Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Grant to the corresponding author Professor Karen Waldie and to Dr Caroline Walker (Grant number 3718586). Dr. D‟Souza‟s time on the project was funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) as part of A Better Start National Science Challenge. Growing Up in New Zealand has been funded by the New Zealand Ministries of Social Development, Health, Education, Justice and Pacific Island Affairs; the former Ministry of Science Innovation and the former Department of Labour (now both part of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment); the former Ministry of Women‟s Affairs (now the Ministry for Women); the Department of Corrections; the Families Commission (now known as the Social Policy Evaluation and Research Unit); Te Puni Kokiri; New Zealand Police; Sport New Zealand; the Housing New Zealand Corporation; and the former Mental Health Commission, The University of Auckland and Auckland UniServices Limited. Other support for the study has been provided by the NZ Health Research Council, Statistics New Zealand, the Office of the Children‟s Commissioner and the Office of Ethnic Affairs

Media Contact/s

Contact details are only visible to registered journalists.