Mothers with depression, school-age children with depression? A systematic review.
OBJECTIVE
To carry out a systematic review of the association between maternal and school-age children depression and covariate factors.


METHODS
The key words maternal depression, depressed children, and school-age key words were searched in Medline, Lilacs, Scielo, IndexPsi, and PsycInfo (2004-2010). Clinical and community cross-sectional and longitudinal studies were included. A qualitative checklist was used.


RESULTS
Thirty studies were included (21.926 dyads). The results supported the association, showing several modulators: family environment, marital adjustment, social support, depression symptoms, and children-related variables. Limitations were nonrandom samples, single informants, and nondepression diagnosis.


CONCLUSIONS
Identifying mothers with depression may be useful for prevention and early detection of school-age children's depression.
Department of Neurosciences and Behavior, Division of Psychiatry, Ribeirão Preto School of Medicine, University of São Paulo (FMRP-USP), Brazil. anavilela@usp.br
Ana Vilela
AV
Mendes
Sonia Regina
SR
Loureiro
José Alexandre
JA
Crippa
Carolina
C
de Meneses Gaya
Lluisa
L
García-Esteve
Rocio
R
Martín-Santos
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*