Researchers have found structural differences in the brains of children at high risk for depression due to parental depressive history. Depression is a common and debilitating mental health condition that typically arises during adolescence. While the causes of depression are complex, having a parent with depression is one of the biggest known risk factors.
Studies have consistently shown that adolescent children of parents with depression are two to three times more likely to develop depression than those with no parental history of depression.
According to the study, about one-third of the children were in the high-risk group because they had a parent with depression.
The research found that in the high-risk children, the right putamen a brain structure linked to reward, motivation, and the experience of pleasure- was smaller than in children with no parental history of depression.
