HealthDay (6/20, Dotinga) reports that a study published online June 19 in JAMA Psychiatry suggests that children of depressed mothers may develop fewer emotional problems by spending time at a daycare facility. After following “1,759 children between the ages of five months and five years,” researchers found that around 12 percent of the children of non-depressed mothers showed signs of emotional problems, whereas 32 percent of the children of depressed mothers showed signs of emotional problems. However, when put in daycare, only seven percent of children whose mothers were depressed showed signs of emotional problems, which the researchers attributed to the structured environment and opportunities to socialize daycare provides.
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— “Day Care May Help Kids of Depressed Moms, “Randy Dotinga, HealthDay, June 19, 2013.