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💡 These are population-level findings. We do not claim individual prediction or causality. But they do reinforce why mental health support during pregnancy matters—for both mother and child.

🤰🧠Among those exposed to clinically relevant prenatal symptoms, early internalizing problems (e.g., anxiety) predicted even steeper brain changes.

This suggests a possible coupling of early emotional difficulties and brain network reorganization.

⚡This accelerated development may seem adaptive, but it may come at a cost, potentially reduced brain plasticity during a key developmental window.

Notably, changes were strongest in the default mode network, involved in self-reflection and linked to rumination.

Using resting-state fMRI data from 2,800+ children in the
@GenerationR, we found that:

➡️ Prenatal, but not postnatal, depressive symptoms were associated with a steeper increase in functional brain network integration and segregation during adolescence.