BACKGROUND: Maternal perinatal mental health is essential for optimal brain development and mental health of the offspring. We evaluated whether maternal depression during the perinatal period and early life of the offspring might be selectively associated with altered brain function during emotion regulation and whether those may further correlate with physiological responses and the typical use of emotion regulation strategies. METHODS: Participants included 163 young adults (49% female, 28-30 years) from the ELSPAC prenatal birth cohort who took part in its neuroimaging follow-up and had complete mental health data from the perinatal period and early life. Maternal depressive symptoms were measured mid-pregnancy, 2 weeks, 6 months, and 18 months after birth. Regulation of negative affect was studied using functional magnetic resonance imaging, concurrent skin conductance response (SCR) and heart rate variability (HRV), and assessment of typical emotion regulation strategy. RESULTS: Maternal depression 2 weeks after birth interacted with sex and showed a relationship with greater brain response during emotion regulation in a right frontal cluster in women. Moreover, this brain response mediated the relationship between greater maternal depression 2 weeks after birth and greater suppression of emotions in young adult women (ab = 0.11, SE = 0.05, 95% CI [0.016; 0.226]). The altered brain response during emotion regulation and the typical emotion regulation strategy were also as sociated with SCR and HRV. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that maternal depression 2 weeks after birth predisposes female offspring to maladaptive emotion regulation skills and particularly to emotion suppression in young adulthood.

1st Department of Neurology Faculty of Medicine Masaryk University and St Anne's University Hospital Brno Czech Republic

Brain and Mind Research Central European Institute of Technology Masaryk University Brno Czech Republic

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health University of Toronto Toronto ON Canada

Department of Psychiatry University of Toronto

Institute of Scientific Instruments The Czech Academy of Sciences Brno Czech Republic

RECETOX Faculty of Science Masaryk University Brno Czech Republic

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