BACKGROUND/ AIMS:

Early identification of depression is critical to enable preventative interventions to take place in the early years, where they are most effective. Depression is the leading contributor to the global burden of disease among young people.

In infancy the child's environment is usually determined by their mother because children spend most of their time with and are dependent on mothers for care. Many early risk factors for depression centre on the mother: maternal depression, low maternal education, multi-parity and young maternal age.

Mothers deemed at risk are increasingly being targeted in interventions globally. However, rather than reflecting causal effects, observed associations between each maternal factor and offspring depression could be confounded. This makes it unclear which mother-infant dyads to prioritise for interventions. It is also unclear how to intervene because most of these maternal risk factors are very difficult to change. Therefore, in order to identify opportunities for intervention, it is also important to identify modifiable indirect pathways which mediate associations.