So far, I recruited 45 children who completed the brain scan and the diary. A preliminary analysis shows that when listening to critical statements, children recruited brain regions that are implicated in cognitive control of emotions (the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; dlPFC) as well as brain regions that are related to emotional and physical pain (the anterior cingulate cortex, ACC). Moreover, children who recruited (i.e. showed more activation in) the dlPFC to a lesser degree when listening to criticism in the fMRI, reacted to parental criticism with increases in depressive symptoms during the diary. Children who recruited the dlPFC more when listening to criticism did not experience any increases in depressive symptoms after criticism (see Figure 1). Finally, children of mothers with (compared to without) a history of depression showed decreased recruitment of the dlPFC when listening to criticism. Brain responses to praise were not related to changes in depression in everyday life. Taken together these results suggest that brain responses to criticism may be one mechanism by which depression is transmitted from mother to child.
In addition to the study which included fMRI we collected data from a larger group of children (N=71) and their mothers. The mothers reported their past and current depression using questionnaires and the children completed a 21-day daily diary in which they reported experiences of criticism and praise from family members and friends. The results of this study showed that whereas all children respond to criticism from family members (i.e. mothers, fathers, or siblings) with transient increases in depressive symptoms, only children whose mothers had a history of depression showed persistent increases in depression in response to familial criticism. In addition, only children whose mothers had a history of depression showed transient increases in depression when friends criticized them. Thus, this study suggests that children of mothers with depression are more sensitive to criticism compared to children of mothers without depression. Finally, praise from either parent was related to lower levels depressive symptom for all children.
Action was terminated before the return phase and the completion of data collection.
