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

摘要

BackgroundMaternal 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.