Maternal depression has been considered a risk factor for children’s mental health. The aim of this review was to identify and analyze in the related literature, recent empirical studies (2005-2012), that address the associations of maternal depression to the children’s behavior and mental health, at school age. The search has been held in the databases PubMed, PsycInfo and LILACS, using the keywords "Maternal Depression or Depression" and "Risk Factors". It was identified and analyzed 68 articles, 23 with cross-sectional and 45 with longitudinal design. Regardless of the designs adopted, maternal depression was associated with the presence of emotional and behavioral difficulties in general, and depressive and anxiety manifestations. Besides maternal depression, other contextual variables were related to children’s difficulties. The recognition of multiples variables’ action allowed the verification of several indicators, which can favor the planning of interventions.
maternal depression; children; behavior; mental health; risk factors
