The effects of maternal prenatal depression on child mental health: The moderating role of maternal childhood trauma

Background: There is a large body of evidence suggesting that maternal prenatal depression significantly predicts mental health problems in children. However, little is known about the role of maternal childhood trauma within this effect.Methods: The current study utilized a sample of 187 mother-child dyads (51.3 % boys) from the Shanghai Sleep Birth Cohort (SSBC), a six-year prospective longitudinal study. The effects of maternal depression at late preg-nancy (Center for Epidemiological Survey-Depression Scale) on the child mental health at six years old (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) were analyzed, with different types of maternal childhood trauma (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire) being examined as moderators.Results: The results showed that maternal prenatal depression positively predicted child mental health problems (beta = 0.13, p < .05) and there was a significant moderating effect of maternal childhood emotional abuse (beta = - 0.05,p < .05); that is, in mothers with high childhood emotional abuse, child mental health problems remained high regardless of maternal prenatal depression (beta =-0.02, p = .78), while in mothers with low childhood emotional abuse, maternal prenatal depression significantly predicted child behavioral and emotional problems (beta = 0.20, p < .05).Limitations: Relatively high socio-economic status samples, retrospective reports of maternal childhood trauma and the single reporter were the limitations of this study.Conclusions: The findings provided new insights into the impact of maternal prenatal depression on child mental health, highlighting the importance of intervention efforts targeting mothers with prenatal depression and childhood trauma history.

Automated summary

This study found that prenatal depression significantly affects child mental health, and maternal childhood trauma plays a key role in this effect. The results showed that prenatal depression predicts child mental health problems, and childhood emotional abuse moderates this relationship.