Scientists Discover Early Depression Warning Signs Hidden in Children's Eyes

A child's attention to happy or sad faces may offer early clues about depression risk, according to a new study from researchers at Binghamton University. The findings suggest that depression can change how children process emotional expressions, and these changes may differ depending on whether they have a family history of depression.

Researchers followed 242 children and their mothers over a two-year period, assessing them every six months. During each visit, children viewed pairs of faces displaying neutral and emotional expressions, while eye-tracking technology measured where their attention focused and how long they looked at each face.

The study found that increasing depressive symptoms influenced attention patterns in different ways. Among children whose mothers had a history of major depressive disorder, worsening depressive symptoms were linked to greater attention toward sad faces. These children appeared to have more difficulty shifting their attention away from negative emotional cues, suggesting that sadness becomes increasingly prominent in their environment as depressive symptoms develop.

In contrast, children whose mothers had no history of depression showed a different pattern. As depressive symptoms increased, they spent less time looking at happy faces. Researchers believe this may reflect the loss of a protective factor, as attention to positive emotional information is often associated with emotional resilience and well-being.

The findings are significant because they are the first to show that depressive symptoms and attention biases may influence one another over time during childhood. Rather than simply being a risk factor for depression, changes in attention may also emerge as a consequence of depressive symptoms and evolve differently depending on family background.

Researchers say identifying these attention patterns early could help improve efforts to recognize children at higher risk for depression before symptoms become more severe.

REFERENCE: Kelly A. Gair, Leslie A. Brick, Brandon E. Gibb. Transactional relations between attentional biases for affective stimuli and depressive symptoms in offspring of mothers with and without major depressive disorder.. Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science, 2026; DOI: 10.1037/abn0001132