Higher maternal depressive symptoms prenatally and postpartum are associated with altered gray matter structure in children; the observed white matter correlations appear to be uniquely related to the postpartum period. The reduced thickness and diffusivity suggest premature brain development in children exposed to higher maternal perinatal depressive symptoms. These results highlight the importance of ensuring optimal women's mental health throughout the perinatal period, because maternal depressive symptoms appear to increase children's vulnerability to nonoptimal brain development.

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Introduction: Young children are often unable to remain still for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), leading to unusable images. Various preparation methods may increase success, though it is unclear which factors best predict success. Here, in a retrospective sample, we describe factors associated with successful scanning in unsedated young children. We hypothesized that the mock scanner training and fewer behavior problems would result in higher success rates.Methods: We recruited 134 children aged 2.0–5.0 years for an MRI study. We compared success between children whose parents opted for mock scanner training (n = 20) or not (n = 114), and evaluated demographic and cognitive factors that predicted success.Results: Ninety-seven children (72%) completed at least one MRI sequence successfully on their first try; 64 children (48%) provided high-quality data for all 3 structural imaging sequences. Cognitive scores were higher in successful than unsuccessful children. Children who received mock scanner training were no more likely to be successful than children without, though they had slightly higher scores on T1 image quality.Conclusions: Our data shows that scanning with minimial preparation is possible in young children, and suggests limited advantages of mock scanner preparation for healthy young children.Cognitive ability may predict success.

Brain alterations are associated with reading and language difficulties in older children, but little research has investigated relationships between early language skills and brain white matter structure during the preschool period. We studied 68 children aged 3.0-5.6 years who underwent diffusion tensor imaging and participated in assessments of Phonological Processing and Speeded Naming. Tract-based spatial statistics and tractography revealed relationships between Phonological Processing and diffusion parameters in bilateral ventral white matter pathways and the corpus callosum. Phonological Processing was positively correlated with fractional anisotropy and negatively correlated with mean diffusivity. The relationships observed in left ventral pathways are consistent with studies in older children, and demonstrate that structural markers for language performance are apparent as young as 3 years of age. Our findings in right hemisphere areas that are not as commonly found in adult studies suggest that young children rely on a widespread network for language processing that becomes more specialized with age.