Early maternal depressive symptoms and child growth trajectories: a longitudinal analysis of a nationally representative US birth cohort.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Maternal depressive symptoms are negatively associated with early child growth in developing countries; however, few studies have examined this relation in developed countries or used a longitudinal design with data past the second year of the child's life. We investigated if and when early maternal depressive symptoms affect average growth in young children up to age 6 in a nationally representative sample of US children.

Methods

Using data from 6,550 singleton births from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study -- Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), we fit growth trajectory models with random effects to examine the relation between maternal depressive symptoms at 9 months based on the twelve-item version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and chi

SUBMITTER: Surkan PJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4114872 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature